Customer Reviews

C# 2005 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Seems like I've been ending up with a number of C# books in my review pile lately. The most recent one is C# 2005 For Dummies by Stephen Randy Davis and Chuck Sphar. As with many programming language books in the Dummies series, it's a solid coverage of the material for those who are looking for a broad coverage of the material for a first exposure...

Contents:
Part 1 - Creating Your First C# Programs: Creating Your First C# Windows Program; Creating Your First C# Console Application
Part 2 - Basic C# Programming: Living with Variability - Declaring Value-Type Variables; Smooth Operators; Controlling Program Flow
Part 3 - Object-Based Programming: Collecting Data - The Class and the Array; Putting on Some High-Class Functions; Class Methods; Stringing in the Key of C#
Part 4 - Object-Oriented Programming: Object-Oriented Programming - What's It All About?; Holding a Class Responsible; Inheritance - Is That All I Get?; Poly-what-ism?
Part 5 - Beyond Basic Classes: What a Class Isn't a Class - The Interface and the Structure; Asking Your Pharmacist about Generics
Part 6 - The Part of Ten: The 10 Most Common Build Errors (And How to Fix Them); The 10 Most Significant Differences between C# and C++
Appendix: About the CD
Bonus Chapters on the CD: Some Exceptional Exceptions; Handling Files and Libraries in C#; Stepping through Collections; Using the Visual Studio Interface; C# on the Cheap
Index

As I've mentioned in other places, I like Dummies books for the ability to allow me to figure out what I don't know about a subject. If I didn't know Java at all (C# is very close to Java in many, many respects) and wanted to get my feet wet in C#, this book would help me get the foundational skills I need. As someone who *does* already know Java, I think I was more interested in the bonus material on the CD. I really didn't know much about Mono, the open-source implementation of .Net. Nor did I know that there are non-Microsoft imitations of Visual Studio that you can use if you want to code in C# without spending hundreds of dollars for the VS IDE. Cool stuff! This probably wouldn't be the book you'd keep around as your main reference source if you are going to be a C# code-slinger, but it will help you figure out where the gun goes and how to put the holster on...

If you guys like me are starting programming with C# then
C# 2005 for dummies is the book to buy. It is extremely well explained with great examples, the loopings and object oriented are well explained as well. I purchased about 5 books on C# claiming to be beginners books but they were NOT. Most C# beginner book on C# assume some programming experience but NOT C# 2005 for dummies. By order I will recommend for a newbie in programming who wants to learn C#:
- C# 2005 for dummies
- The absolute beginner in C#
- Beginning C# 2005 from Wrox

Again Thanks to Mr Davis for this fantastic introduction to C#

After having a few different textbooks that were difficult to understand I am extremely pleased with the quality, easy understandability and usuability of this book. Paired with my textbooks I have been able to grasp the harder concepts of C# that once were very difficult. There is some knowledge required of the language in order to be able to understand some of the concepts and grasp them fully but this book definitely makes it so much easier. I soon will be graduating with an Associates Degree in Web Design and Programming and feel very sure I will use this book as reference throughout the beginning of my career."A reference for the rest of us!" is definitely an appropriate slogan for the "DUMMIES" series of books.

No matter how dumb you think your readers are, you should not stick a CD with a trojan in the back of the book!
I'll admit I found a copy of this book for a good price ($8.50), and eventhough I have C# 2008, I thought this would be an inexpensive way to get up to speed. At least avast! thinks it contains a virus, and disabled the CD drive. When I tried the website referenced in the book, it contained no reference to the book. (What FAQs?).
It will be a long time, probably forever, before I purchase another Dummies book.

Pretty standard Dummies book. I almost always learn a lot from them, and this one was no exception. It covers all the object oriented standards- encapsulation, classes, enumeration, etc. with lots of good examples and little overly confusing syntax. Mildly flippant, as standard for the informal tone of the series, but while rarely very funny it does help keep it light. If you're wanting a joke book this isn't it, in other words, but it does the job for an intro to C#.

My only real complaint, as often seems to be the case with cd's in books, was that a lot of the licenses or something had expired and I wasn't able to run anything. For a programmer I'm pretty clunky at techy things, but I think this wasn't my fault. Still a good book- much more detail than "Learning in the Key of c#", for example. Probably the Head First is a better overall learning book than this one, but you can get through Dummies a lot faster.

This is one of two books I read to get my introduction to C#, and I feel like since then I have been pretty successful. The book had actually has a very decent coverage of Object Oriented Programming. My only complaint really is the amount of humor that is interjected into the text, which I suppose is a hallmark of the "for Dummies" series of books. The humor is kind of cool and funny at first, but after a while it starts to get in the way of the subject matter. Not enough to inhibit learning, just enough to be a little annoying. Having said that though, this book did help me get started and, like I said, I have been pretty successful since then so I have to give the book at least four stars.

This book is great. Compared to the Microsoft training books that start with the assumption, "We assume that you've been working with C# for 2 or 3 years" this book gets you up to speed from word 1. You start off learning and seeing code and end up knowing what inheritance, polymorphism, and generics are. The logical steps from one subject to the next are great! The references from one chapter to another are as well. Don't miss the 4 extra chapters on the CD.
Stephen Davis and Chuck Sphar did a great job. Thank you.

Even though I've been programming for years I found this book to be very helpful. I've used Visual Basic and other languages but not C and decided it was time to add C# to my skillset. I was pleased to find this book covers fundamental concepts often skipped by more advanced books and included details of syntax which the beginner needs to learn but which other authors often assume the reader already knows. The authors also use a light, humorous style which makes the reading faster and more enjoyable.