Essential C# 2.0

by Mark Michaelis

A new edition of this title is available, ISBN-10: 0321533925 ISBN-13: 9780321533920 " Essential C# 2.0 pulls off a very difficult task. The early chapters are comprehensible by beginning developers,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0321150775
• ISBN13: 9780321150776
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Length: 720 Pages
• Weight: 2.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 7.2" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Great coverage of C# -- smart graphics are a huge help, too

Essential C# 2.0 is somewhat introductory in nature, but there's enough coverage of more advanced topics to make it useful for experienced .NET developers as well. What's really different about this book is its tremendous visual impact. This book has perhaps the best visual layout of any I've seen, and it's so well done that it really helps the book get across the points Michaelis is making in this book. Each chapter starts out with a mind map, one of my favorite tools for getting across highlights of a topic. There's a very nice deliniation of topic levels within chapters as well, with beginner and advanced topics being clearly separated out by headers and sidebar borders. The code examples get some great markup, too, with bits inside code being clearly marked out with grey background and bold text so you quickly see what the author's focusing on -- and the font for console output is way cool, too. OK, so that's all the visual stuff which would be simply eye candy bling and rather useless if the content of the book didn't back it up. It's nice that the content does back it up. There's solid coverage of all the important topics: value vs. reference types, how the CLR/CLI works, basic object-oriented programming aspects of C#, and nice bits on delegates and events. C# 2.0 features get good coverage, and there are two nicely done chapters on threading. There's also a chapter covering interoperability via P/Invoke and unsafe code (pointers), a topic I've not seen covered in any other book. Michaelis's writing style is clear, and he's nicely concise in the book. I appreciate that he kept the focus on C# and didn't try to span out into ASP.NET, web services, and a raft of various other topics that always seem to get lumped in with language books. Overall I think this is a terriffic book and I'm happy to have it on my shelf!

Better than the book "The C# Programming Language" by Far

This book has extensive coverage of basic and not so basic features. I learned a lot about delegates and other advanced subjects that are usually skimmed through lightly. As I said in the title, I found this to be much better than the book "The C# Programming Language" by by Anders Hejlsberg, Scott Wiltamuth, and Peter Golde which was not much of a help to me because it was more like a long list linked book where this one deals with C# directly in each of its subjects it undertakes. Buy it, you will not be disappointed.

This book is awesome...

I seriously had never programmed an object oriented language in my life. This book has been a huge help as I got moved in to .NET at work. I went from feeling totally lost to programming fully on a complex site with trust from my co-workers. That means a lot because you know how other programmers don't want you to mess stuff up :) I still have so much to learn but I have been relying on this book heavily to get me through the process. Thanks Mark for a job well done...much appreciation from my end.

Like the book

This book arrived few days ago to my desk and I really must say that it is "Something else" ... I write C# code for a while now (Not a pro, though) and find the book excellent as a tutorial, as well as a reference. The author doesn't assume prior knowledge and that is one of the things I expect from a good "beginners book". There are more advanced topics (as marked by the author, which is great - makes the reader pay extra attention) that makes the developer already familiar with C#, suddenly understand what's happening "Behind the scenes". Simply written, Concise. Excellent book.

a developer's best friend for c#

"Essential C#" does for C# what Deitel did for Java. It's great book to learn C# from the ground up or for experienced developers. I was a bit skeptical of the claim that the book is for everyone - beginners, experienced developers, structured programmers, C/C++/Java developers and C# professionals. However, through a combination of sidebars and text that makes sense on different levels, the author managed to achieve this lofty goal. This truly is a book for developers. It includes refactoring and other best practices. I especially liked the part on well formed types and how to properly implement equals. There is a strong emphasis on the language itself, which is great. The first mention of Windows Forms is almost page 600. A nice contrast to those book that teach the "language" solely through visual editors. The author also gives equal time to the .NET and Mono implementations. The back cover states the book is "clear and concise." Weighing in at 700 pages, the book does manage to stay true to this claim. Code examples are short and focused. I only found one over a page long. Descriptions are clear, accurate and easy to follow. I strongly recommend this book to any considering working with C#. t really is "Essential" !