More Effective C#: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your C# (Effective Software Development Series) (Paperback)

by Bill Wagner (Author) "Without a doubt, C# 2.0 added a feature that continues to have a big impact on how you write C# code: generics..." (more)
Key Phrases: language enhancements, using function parameters, synch handle, Design Practices, Windows Forms, Understand Cross-Thread Calls (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

“Shining a bright light into many of the dark corners of C# 3.0, this book not only covers the ‘how,’ but also the ‘why,’ arming the reader with many field-tested methods for wringing the most from the new language features, such as LINQ, generics, and multithreading. If you are serious about developing with the C# language, you need this book.”

–Bill Craun, Principal Consultant, Ambassador Solutions, Inc.

 

“More Effective C# is an opportunity to work beside Bill Wagner. Bill leverages his knowledge of C# and distills his expertise down to some very real advice about programming and designing applications that every serious Visual C# user should know. More Effective C# is one of those rare books that doesn’t just regurgitate syntax, but teaches you how to use the C# language.”

–Peter Ritchie, Microsoft MVP: Visual C#

 

“More Effective C# is a great follow-up to Bill Wagner’s previous book. The extensive

C# 3.0 and LINQ coverage is extremely timely!”

–Tomas Restrepo, Microsoft MVP: Visual C++, .NET, and Biztalk Server

 

“As one of the current designers of C#, it is rare that I learn something new about the language by reading a book. More Effective C# is a notable exception. Gently blending concrete code and deep insights, Bill Wagner frequently makes me look at C# in a fresh light–one that really makes it shine. More Effective C# is at the surface a collection of very useful guidelines. Look again. As you read through it, you’ll find that you acquire more than just the individual pieces of advice; gradually you’ll pick up on an approach to programming in C# that is thoughtful, beautiful, and deeply pleasant. While you can make your way willy-nilly through the individual guidelines, I do recommend reading the whole book–or at least not skipping over the chapter introductions before you dive into specific nuggets of advice. There’s perspective and insight to be found there that in itself can be an important guide and inspiration for your future adventures in C#.”

–Mads Torgersen, Program Manager, Visual C#, Microsoft

 

“Bill Wagner has written an excellent book outlining the best practices for developers who work with the C# language. By authoring More Effective C#, he has again established himself as one of the most important voices in the C# community. Many of us already know how to use C#. What we need is advice on how to hone our skills so that we can become wiser programmers. There is no more sophisticated source of information on how to become a first-class C# developer than Bill Wagner’s book. Bill is intelligent, thoughtful, experienced, and skillful. By applying the lessons from this book to your own code, you will find many ways to polish and improve the work that you produce.”

–Charlie Calvert, Community Program Manager, Visual C#, Microsoft

 

In More Effective C#, Microsoft C# MVP and Regional Director Bill Wagner introduces fifty brand-new ways to write more efficient and more robust software. This all-new book follows the same format as Wagner’s best-selling Effective C# (Addison-Wesley, 2005), providing clear, practical explanations, expert tips, and plenty of realistic code examples.

 

Wagner shows how to make the most of powerful innovations built into Microsoft’s new C# 3.0 and .NET Framework 3.5, as well as advanced C# language capabilities not covered in his previous book. Drawing on his unsurpassed C# experience, the author reveals new best practices for working with LINQ, generics, metaprogramming, and many other features. He also uncovers practices that compromise performance or reliability and shows exactly how to avoid them.

 

More Effective C# shows how to

• Use generics to express your design intent more effectively
• Master advanced generics techniques, such as constraints, method constraints, and generic specialization
• Use the multithreaded techniques you’ll need to work with the .NET framework every day
• Express modern design idioms using the rich palette of C# language features
• Successfully mix object oriented and functional programming constructs
• Create composable interfaces and avoid confusion in public interfaces
• Use extension methods to separate contracts from implementation
• Program successfully with C# closures and anonymous types
• Write more effective LINQ queries
• Make the most of LINQ Lazy Evaluation Queries and Lambda Expressions
• Distinguish and convert between delegates and expression trees
• Efficiently utilize nullable types and partial classes
• Use implicit properties for mutable, nonserializable data

You’re already a successful C# programmer–this book can help you become an outstanding one.

About the Author

Bill Wagner, cofounder of SRT Solutions, has developed commercial software for more than twenty years and led design for many successful engineering and enterprise Microsoft Windows products. He has been a Microsoft Regional Director since 2003 and a Microsoft MVP for C# since 2005. Wagner consults routinely with the C# team on new features for forthcoming versions of C#. He has a regular column in Visual Studio Magazine and speaks frequently at conferences and user groups. His tutorials and advanced essays have appeared in MSDN Magazine, MSDN Online, .NET Insight, .NET DJ, and the MSDN C# Team Developer Center. Wagner is also the author of the best-selling Effective C# (Addison-Wesley, 2005).

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (October 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321485890
• ISBN-13: 978-0321485892
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #51,603 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book of magic tricks, January 1, 2009

By	James Ashley (Lawrenceville, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been waiting on this book for ages. Mr. Wagner's original "Effective C#" was a revelation to me. He raised questions I never thought to ask myself about why we do things certain ways in C# rather than others, and then provided insights into what the stakes were. Reading "Effective C#" basically taught me to take programming seriously. I learned to always question my own decisions and to look for better ways to do what I already knew how to do moderately well.

The only shortcoming of "Effective C#" was that it was written for the 1.1 framework, and new editions were never forthcoming. I assumed that Mr. Wagner was spending all these intervening silent years updating his original book.

With "More Effective C#" however, we actually get something quite different. Of course, there are plenty of chapters detailing the post-1.1 features of the C# language, and these are extremely valuable. For instance, the first chapter in this new book is a fresh take on generics, which I found quite interesting. The real differences become apparent in the subsequent chapters, however.

Whereas the original book was a sort of guide for the perplexed, teaching developers to think in new ways, I think of "More Effective C#" as a book of party tricks for programmers. Mr. Wagner already dealt with the fundamental problems of C# programming in his original book, and a rehash of that, while fascinating, would have provided little new.

With this sequel, the author instead moves from principles to possibilities. He stretches and extends our minds with the possibilities that the much more powerful C# 3.0 language offers us as programmers.

In my case, he then turned my poor programming mind inside out and backwards and left me breathless in front of my computer screen. There are things I didn't know could be done with C#, things I never would have thought to do with C#, and things I would have preferred not to know I could do with C# and now can't seem to forget. Bill Wagner's book of wonders reveals it all.

I'm not sure that I will take all of the advice that he provides, such as preferring generic tuples to output and ref parameters (item 9) or preferring implicitly typed local variables (item 30) but, as with the original book, Mr. Wagner has expanded my thinking about C# language, and I highly recommend it to anyone else interested in having an unexpected and enjoyable adventure in programming.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great book by Bill Wagner, November 25, 2008

By	James Holmes "Co-Author 'Windows Developer Po... (South Central Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"More Effective C#" continues in the same style as Bill's first book, "Effective C#": short, concise articles around a specific topic you'll need to pay attention to when figuring out how to write the best C# code you possibly can.

Bill starts off with a deep dive into Generics and some of the many subtleties you need to consider. He points out things like considering how you write generic code in base classes, genericized algorithms, and working with generic interfaces. Bill moves through other broad categories including LINQ, C# Design, and enhancements in the 3.0 release of C#. There's also a great section on multithreading in C# which hits some great points in this very arcane but critical aspect of development.

This book definitely isn't a tutorial on C#, but I'd say that it's critical for all devs, regardless of experience, to read through. I'd also say, although Bill will likely disagree with me, that many of the tenets he puts forth can apply to folks working in other languages on the .NET platform. Even VB devs can learn some high-level concepts from reading through this book.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's right alongside Jon Skeet's "C# in Depth" and Bill's "Effective C#".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for C# developers, January 2, 2009

By	Stephen Forte (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Anyone who is writing C# on a daily basis has to read this book. In 50 very easy to read short modules, Bill shows you how to improve your C# code. I have been coding with C# since 2002 and I learned many new techniques about Generics and the new language features from 3.0. With LINQ, I *finally* know why an implicitly typed local variable is better and the implications of not using IQueryable. A wealth of knowledge. After you read your C# 101 books, read this one next! It will make you a better developer.