Customer Reviews

C# 3.0 THE COMPLETE REFERENCE 3/E

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

 

 

C# 3.0 THE COMPLETE REFERENCE 3/E
The five beginner C# books I've had access to up to now did not meet my expectations. Right from the beginning, they mixed the C# language with the .NET Framework too much which made the code very confusing. Code examples would include code required for .NET framework forms which can be long with many words that have no meaning to beginners. Concatenated names made up of many words separated by periods (dots) also had no meaning to me as a beginner. I was lost even though I had previously programmed in Basic, C and Assembler years ago.

I bought the "C# 3.0 The Complete Reference 3/E" book by Herbert Schildt and it's in a league of it's own. The big difference between this book and the "other" books is that Mr. Schildt separates learning the C# language from the .NET Framework. This separation keeps the C# code clean and simple without a lot of clutter caused by .NET framework code. Of course there has to be some .NET references in the C# section since C# uses the .NET Framework to display stuff on the screen and the like, but from what I've seen so far, Mr. Schildt has seen fit to keep that to a minimum while teaching the C# language. Great approach!!!

This book is divided into two parts. Part I (about 4/5 of the book) has comprehensive coverage of the C# 3.0 language which includes keywords, syntax and features. Part II focuses on the system namespace portion of the.NET framework class library and also covers collections, multithreading, networking and Windows forms. The book explains that all code examples have been tested using Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express which can be downloaded from the Microsoft web site for free.

Chapter 1 starts off by explaining how the C, C++, Java and C# languages evolved and why C# is probably the best language (including languages not mentioned here) to use with the .NET Framework. What's the .NET Framework? Mr. Schildt explains that too.

Chapter 2 starts coverage of the C# language. The first simple program to display a line of text on the screen is broken down word-by-word and line-by-line. Nothing is left for the reader to have to guess or wonder about. I'm up to chapter 3 now and this concise, word-by-word, line-by-line explanation approach seems to be the norm for this book. I like this approach a lot! And did I say I love how the code examples are clean and uncluttered since the focus is on learning C# and are not like a plate of spaghetti made up of a mix of C# and the .NET Framework?

Don't get the wrong impression. This book does teach you how to use the .NET Framework with C#. It's just that it makes learning the C# language much easier due to less clutter. At least what I've seen in the first three chapters anyway.

I have a long way to go to finish this book which has 870 pages not including the index. But so far I just wish this book was the first one I picked up to learn C#. It would have saved me so much time and frustration.

I've been reading some beginning C# books, writing some programs and constantly thinking "there has to be a way to ....." or "there has to be a library method to.....". I searched for quite a while trying to find a book that had descriptions of the available C# commands, syntax, "functions" (methods), and how to use them syntactically. I was excited the first time I opened it and found it to be exactly what I was looking for - a well indexed reference that made it easy to find the reference material I was looking for with brief, useful examples. All this made it possible to get the help I couldn't find (or maybe understand) from the online C# help or the fundamentals books I had in hand. I'm not an expert C# programmer by any stretch, but have been programming for many years. I 'd have to think this book is an essential on every C# programmers desk. I'm so pleased to have finally found what I needed.

C# the language is closely tied to .net framework which consists of the base class library and the CLR common language runtime however it is still a distinct topic.

Most books dealing with .net programming lump C# together with the framework, the runtime, and usually Visual Studio 2005/2008. Some authors even combine vb.net and C# example code in the same book. While this isn't bad it does mean information specific to the C# language becomes lost and buried. Many entry level programmers seem confused at the concept that C# is a separate language from the .net framework. C# has specific syntax, keywords, literals, punctuation, structure, operations, and flow control. These topics are completely unrelated to the "framework" = base class library.

This book does an excellent job of focusing on the C# language and I routinely use it as a reference on C# syntax.

Just understand what you are getting with this book. If you are looking for a single book for getting started in .net covering diverse topics like the framework base classes, asp.net, ado.net, visual studio, windows forms, and AJAX then this likely is not the book for you. While the book does touch on some of those topics its focus is on C# the language. If you are looking a good language reference for C# then this is the book for you.

My review is short and sweet. If you develop in C# (Windows or ASP.NET) you need to add this book to your collection. I have about 8 C# books but always use this book as a reference.

That's one of those unique books that help to understand specific topics. Good examples, easy to follow explanations. I keep it always on my desk.

Just bought this book by previous reviews.
I use this book to learn C#. For now there is no problem.

I was looking at the code example on pages 104/105 and you would think that the "world's leading programming author" would know that zero is unsigned.