Customer Reviews

Beginning Microsoft Visual C# 2008 (Wrox Beginning Guides)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I am a veteran programmer who decided to get back into it after 5+ years absence from the field. Since it had been a while and my former experience was in other languages and this book got good reviews, I bought it.

Big mistake. There are several big problems with this book:

1: The exercises are too short and too unrelated to give any feel of creating anything that is like an actual program. Many of the examples are just skeleton code that do nothing. This means that if at first you don't get it you probably never will because you can't see it working. It is much better to build a series of mini-applications that actually process information so a beginner in a language can learn by building something that will actually work (then see how the parts in it work). Then the concepts that are obscure to begin with become clearer as they are employed. In this book the "try it" sections are more typing exercise than anything else, and these are incredibly short. The authors' reliance on DoSomething() and Console.WriteLine() is both monotonous and uninformative. To really see what code can do, you have to actually make it do something other than the same nonsense over and over. It is best if the exercises actually have you figure out how to accomplish something with the code rather than just typing empty syntax.

2: The authors totally ignore the user interface as a part of the program. Real programmers do NOT make programs based on lines of straight text to and from the console. Besides the fact that it is deadly boring, this approach is also too simplistic to teach any sense of what a full application entails. Particularly in Visual Studio, it is important to consider the interface as part of the context of the application. Making the interfaces also gives a programmer the same stimulation that the programmer will need to provide for future end-users. Visual Studio and Visual Studio Express provide very easy access to those interfaces. Not using the interfaces really short-changes the would-be programmers.

3: The book is totally lacking appendices or other reference areas with a brief, concise summary of language features and syntax--or expanded information. This should be a vital part of a beginning book on any language. Want to review the syntax for a specific declaration? Trying to figure out the best approach for looping through a series of tasks or data? Normally one would go to the chart of program control structures at the end of the book to review the syntax for clues. Not with this book. Such a chart exists nowhere in it. Your only option would be to reread entire relevant chapters.

4: When you finally get to user interfaces, they are presented as something that is totally different from the programming techniques you learned in the earlier chapters. The various form features are introduced, along with their properties, but there is pretty much a complete disconnect from the programming that should be happening behind the forms. Working on interface as an integral part of the program instead of something different would make a much better approach.

I will not finish this book and do not recommend it to anyone who actually wants to learn to write code that actually does anything or interacts with users in a meaningful way.

As far as 1300 page programming books go, this one is well above average. It covers both Visual Studio 2008 and the free Visual C# 2008 Express Edition using Express for most of the examples. C sharp is a great language if you've done any C, C++ or object oriented programming before. One can argue even if you have zero programming experience it's still the best overall language to learn. It's elegant, powerful, works for desktop apps, mobile apps, server apps and is multi-platform. C# is one of those rare things that Microsoft did well.

There's something here for everyone including C# language basics, object oriented programming theory, introduction to UML, Windows programming, web programming, databases, etc. It starts with an intro to C# in 7 chapters before introducing Object Oriented programming which is a different approach than many books. You can download the code at wrox.com.

THE GOOD: The authors manage to keep it readable and concise at the same time. There's not a lot of extra anecdotes and filler like you'll find in many beginning programming books. Most every sentence conveys something useful without being excessively dry. I haven't found many mistakes which seem all too common these days in similar books.

THE BAD: The authors sometimes mention concepts they haven't explained or even introduced yet. Often they point out when they're doing so (i.e. "don't worry about xxxx we'll explain later") but in many instances the reader is left wondering if he missed something earlier in the book only to find the answer in the next chapter. A total programming novice might find this book a bit intimidating as the authors do sometimes assume significant knowledge on behalf of the reader. For example the Object Oriented chapters dive right into UML and other confusing topics with little hand holding. But, personally, I think they did a good job of trying to include lots of useful information versus spending lots of pages on things that most readers will already know.

Let me start of by saying that C# was the very first foray into real programming for me. I've had experience with (X)HTML, Javascript, and bash scripts. After reading online about which language(s) to start with, I finally decided on C#.

After perusing the many books that Amazon has I found this book and decided to give it a whirl. I'm up to the chapters concerning Object Oriented Programming now and I feel I can say that this guide provides a good starting point for a real beginner. Each chapter provides an in depth look at each topic and isn't too hard to understand. All of the examples in the book have step-by-step analysis of the code and what it does. It even discusses in the first chapters how to get the tools (for free) to work in Visual C# and compile it (Microsoft Visual C# Express 2008). I'm also impressed with the breadth of topics covered in the later chapters. I can't say I'll use them all but it's nice to know I have access to that information if I need it.

The only quibble I have with this book is it's lack of code in response to the exercises at the end of each chapter. Granted most of the examples in the chapter would give you the knowledge necessary to complete the exercises but sometimes it's nice to see how a professional would do it. Their website does however provide the code for download for the examples in the chapter, but you're left on your own as far as the end-of-chapter exercises.

All in all I'd give this book a go if you've had no programming experience but would like to develop that skill.

I have normally found Wrox books to be quite informative. I own several on subjects such as XML, Visual Basic, and C++. I cannot, however, recommend this book for those that are starting out fresh with C#. I am an amateur programmer with previous experience with Visual Basic, Python (including wxPython), and C++, and this book did me no favors in introducing me to C#.

My main complaint is that the authors' exercises are overly complicated to demonstrate C# programming concepts. It seems as though in their desperation to show real-world applicability, the authors take the long way around. I am pointing in particular to the various Card Deck and Vector exercises. If I have to figure out exactly what it is you are trying to do with the program AND work at wrapping my head around a particular C# programming concept, then the exercise becomes less effective, especially for a BEGINNER. In short, the authors seem to have chosen to neglect the Keep it Simple Stupid (KISS) principle in many of their exercises.

I also do not think this book is organized effectively. As another reviewer mentioned, the authors have a terrible habit of referencing material that will come later in the book. This should be a big clue to the authors that perhaps they have not organized the material well. And, generally speaking, the book does not build effective transitions from one concept to the next. (As an example, in one of the first chapters the authors have an extensive lesson on Bit Twiddling, although they admit that it is not used very often in C#. Why bother?)

Given the complicated nature of the example exercises and the lack of organization and effective transitions, I found myself starting to swim about 200 - 250 pages into the book.

And one final complaint - I hated having to go back and modify code that I had already written so that it would fit into some new concept. I'm not talking about Adding to existing code that had been completed in a previous exercise, but modifying very specific lines to accommodate some new concept.

I give this book 3 stars, because I think it is a comprehensive reference guide, but if you're a beginner with C# you should probably get your feet under you with another book before you come to this one. I found Daniel Solis' Illustrated C# 2008 to be much more effective in its introduction to C# than I did this book.

This is the most obtuse 'beginners book' I've ever read. I'm also reading Liberty's Learning C# and there I feel, as a beginner, that I have a chance. Not so with this book - I found this a VERY difficult book and I'm done beating my head against the wall with it. This was very frustrating because I would have thought that with a massive beginning book like this I would have just the opposite experience. I'm sure it'll work fine when I'm past beginners stage - so I'll keep it for then.

I'm an amateur programmer with a C++ background. I've read other Wrox books but this one is very dissapointing. I don't know how others can say this is a good book for a beginner.

I have to agree with Aro's opinions on this book.

Primarily, the examples like the Vector example, is very confusing - i'm trying to understand the concept of C# programming and they drown it in a confusing Vector example. I want to keep it simple to i understand how the C# programming works, not physics!

The book assumes you already know many things, skims over explaining new concepts as if its a review session. It shows how, but not why. Many examples are just retyping what the authors have come up with. I don't want to cut and paste, i want to learn to develop!

There are mistakes in this book - particularly a big one on page 197, on polymorphism.

The authors give you an example in one chapter, in the next say, forget it all, here's a better way and they build on the previous example, WHICH is not clearly explained! The book does not explain the details of what's going on, then expects you to understand concepts that are built on these simpler initial concepts.

Interfaces and implementing them is extremely confusing in this book. I had to refer to external sources and videos just to understand why they are doing the things they are.

Chapter 11 is just crammed with a lot of new concepts, poorly explained, lack of detail - this chapter feels like you're about to eat a dinner for 20 people. I made it to chapter 12 and I'm realizing it is time to find another book. I would NOT recommend this book, especially to a beginner! I've compared this book to others in the same subject/level and it is a very frustrating book. I feel this book was rushed. Do yourself a favor and read a few chapters before you make this purchase.

I used the Head First book to learn C# but was stumped over and over. Now I have this book (Wrox) which really does the hand holding and teaches the basics from scratch.

Difficult concepts like Object Oriented Programming are explained in detail. The chapter on Windows programming is a breeze.

I will definitely endorse this book wholeheartedly for "dummy" beginners like me.

Now I can, at last, understand the Head First C# book. These 2 books are a great combo. But you start with the WROX book i.e. the book under review.

M Khan

This was a required book for a college course. This book IS not for begginers and very difficult to follow. I think it was written as a reference book and not as a study guide. I guess when I am a pro at C#, I may use it as a reference but then again, I would probably not use it even then. Look for the altrantives. This is not a user friendly book by any means. Also, the only reason I gave it two stars is because it was rather cheap, around $20 when compared to other college books. So, it was not a total loss.

The book was written by six authors, and it shows. Some chapters are models of clarity, and some are almost impossible to comprehend because of the contorted sentences. How some programmers can write such elegant code and so mess up sentence syntax amazes me. The editors at WROX need a good dope slap over releasing this book without cleaning up some of the chapters.

But it isn't just the poor writing. There is considerable obtuse thinking in how the writing should have been structured. The title of the book contains the word "Beginning". That should tell the authors that the readers will be beginners, and so you go from low level examples to high level generalization, not vice versa. If a person can read the MSDN library and understand it, then this book is unnecessary. So why start with MSDN level definitions and FINALLY give an actual example at the end of a discussion?? That is bass ackwards for beginners and horribly frustrating for them. And it is an insult to professionals. Start with a simple example, and progressively build to the general case. This should have been obvious. But it wasn't. Some chapters are almost an attempt to make simple concepts difficult. Had I not known JavaScript before picking up this book, I'd have thought C# was just too difficult. But, with the background I had, I was able to see that the concepts are not that difficult nor dissimilar; it is just bass ackwards writing in this book that makes it so painful.

I have restricted my comments to the quality of the writing and how the material is presented. Others have reviewed the general thoroughness of the book sufficiently.

This is the fifth book I have ever read concerning programming languages. I am sw developer and I have been using c and c++ mostly and I felt it's time to pick up C#. After a little search and all the positive reviews I saw for this book I made the biggest mistake of my life when buying it.

The book tries to cover an enormous amount of C# features and in doing so it forgets to go in depth on specific topic. It prefers to just do a round up of topics without getting into the details. It's a mix of web,windows,ajax,linq,xml programming with ridiculous examples and basically no exercises at all. What good is a beginners guide without exercises? To me learning a programming language is not done by memorizing books. You need to program or to see a lot of code (which doesn't exist in this book) and understand how stuff works. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone beginner or not. It fails to explain in depth features which it is using in later chapters stating that now you have fully understood that feature from the last chapter.

Edit :

Chapter 12 page 367

Defining Generic Delegates

The writer here explains generic delegates in 10.5 lines. You can learn ALL about generic delegates in 10 lines. Very simple and easy.

That's all.