Murach's C# [Paperback]

Joel Murach (Author), Doug Lowe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004

From the start, this book shows you how to use Visual Studio, C!, and the .NET classes to develop Windows applications the way the best professionals develop them. This unique approach works whether you're new to programming or you have experience with languages like Visual Basic, C++, or Java. As you progress, you will learn the best techniques for developing object-oriented business applications, and you'll learn how to use ADO.NET to develop professional database applications. That is like having three books in one: a beginning book, an object-oriented programming book, and a database programming book. That's why we say: "No other book teaches you so much, so fast, or so thoroughly".

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

When Joel and I set out to write this book, we realized that one of the biggest problems with C# is that the .NET Framework is enormous. With thousands of methods, properties, and events available, how does a beginner separate the wheat from the chaff to determine which parts of the framework are useful for everyday programming?

As a result, we set out to cover those topics that would be most useful for Windows forms applications. To our surprise, we found that most books completely ignore many of these topics, or cover them only superficially. For example, most books almost completely ignore data validation. We cover it thoroughly, showing you how to develop a Validation class with static methods for common validation requirements. And while most books offer just one chapter on database, we devote five chapters to ADO.NET database programming because we know database programming is at the heart of almost all C# development.

We also included a complete section on the practical use of object-oriented programming techniques, including topics such as inheritance, interfaces, operator overloading, and so on. However, instead of illustrating these concepts with make-believe objects such as dogs and cats as most books do, we show how you use these techniques with real-world business objects such as customers and products. And we show you how to develop database classes that populate these business objects with data – an important topic that most books leave you to figure out for yourself.

From the Inside Flap

Why you’ll learn faster and better with this book

Like all our books, this one has features that you won’t find in competing books. That’s why we believe that you’ll learn faster and better with our book than with any other. Here are five of those features.

1. Unlike other C# books, this book shows you how to get the most from Visual Studio as you develop your applications. Many C# books ignore Visual Studio or don’t get to it until late in the book. However, using the features of this IDE is one of the keys to development productivity. So we incorporate Visual Studio throughout the entire book.

2. The exercises at the end of each chapter give you a chance to apply what you’ve learned and gain valuable, hands-on experience. These exercises expertly guide you through the development of some of the book’s applications, and they challenge you to apply what you’ve learned in new ways. Because we provide the starting points for the exercises from our web site, you get the maximum amount of practice in a minimum of time.

3. Unlike most other C# books, all of the examples presented in this book are drawn from real-life business applications. This difference becomes especially apparent in the object-oriented programming section, where most C# books resort to silly metaphors rather than realistic examples. For example, many books illustrate objects by creating animal classes such as mammals, cats, and dogs. Other books use vehicle classes such as trucks, cars, and motorcycles. Then they leave it up to you to figure out how to transfer these concepts to business applications. In contrast, we present realistic business objects such as customers, invoices, and products so you can see how object-oriented programming is used in the real world.

4. To help you develop applications at a professional level, this book presents 12 complete, non-trivial applications. For example, chapter 20 presents an Order Entry database application that uses business classes, database classes, and transactions. You won’t find sophisticated business applications like this in other C# books, even though studying these types of applications is the best way to master C# development.

5. All of the information in this book is presented in our unique paired-page format with the essential syntax, guidelines, and examples on the right page and the perspective and extra explanation on the left page. Programmers tell us that they love this format because they can learn new skills whenever they have a few minutes and because they can quickly get the information that they need when they use our books for reference.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 750 pages
• Publisher: Mike Murach & Associates (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890774227
• ISBN-13: 978-1890774226
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,713,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joel Murach has been writing and editing books about computer programming for over 10 years. During that time, he has written extensively on a wide range of Java, .NET, web, and database technologies. When he's not programming or writing books about programming, he can be found surfing or writing music.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Will you really wish you bought this book first?, August 28, 2005

By 

John Salerno (Houston, TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Murach's C# (Paperback)

This is actually my third C# book, after Programming in the Key of C# by Charles Petzold and Programming C# by Jesse Liberty. I'm learning C# as my first programming language, basically just for fun and out of an interest in programming. I bought Murach's C# as a way to reinforce the basics that I've already learned, and it's doing a good job of that. And I suppose if you are already a programmer and are learning C# (but already know C++ or Java, etc.), then this book is a good intro. But is this really a good book for a beginner to start with?

I'd have to say no. It seems more like a good book to go back to once you already know some things about C#. As I read the chapter in which the "C# Essentials" are introduced, I felt like that's all that was happening: they were being introduced. Here is what the data types are, here is what an if statement is, etc. One page for each topic, and then the authors move on. Furthermore, they introduce some methods of the Math class before they even cover what methods are (or how static methods differ from instance methods, and so on). If I were reading this book as my first intro to C#, I think I'd be very confused. I feel like I can understand what's being said only because I've read two other books on the subject already.

One advantage this book has over all other books I've seen is that it takes the time (two chapters) to introduce you to Visual Studio (the development environment for C#). This is great since programmers will presumably be using this IDE as opposed to an external text editor, for example.

Two complaints I have about the book are these:

1. The paired page format is nice, but at the same time it leads to a lot of redundancy. Often the points made on the left-hand page are repeated in bullets on the right-hand side. Sometimes there's a bit of new information on the right side, so I still felt obliged to read it anyway.

2. It is often difficult to tell which parts of the right-hand page correspond to the left-hand page. The left side is paragraphs of text, but they are not broken up to indicate that we should direct our attention to the right side. I often find myself reading the left side and getting too far ahead before I look to the right side (or vice versa, I continue reading the examples on the right side until I reach a point that I haven't read the explanatory text on the left yet, which can be confusing).

My ultimate opinion is that this book is a good reference or refresher for those who already know another language, or who want to 're-learn' C#. It is not the best book for a complete beginner.

For the beginner with no prior programming experience, I highly, highly, highly recommend Petzold's Programming in the Key of C#. He takes the time to explain everything in great detail, and you will learn so much. It is an excellent foundation for reading other books, such as Murach's C#.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your own personal instructor!, January 5, 2007

By 

G. T. Sanford III (Nolensville, TN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Murach's C# 2005 (Paperback)

All of Murach's books follow the same format: the left page of the open book provides the commentary for the illustrations on the right page. The examples and tutorials in the book are real-world and offer the best possible scenario for the student. I have over a dozen books on C#; if I had purchased this one first, I wouldn't have needed the others. Get this book if you need to learn C# in the shortest possible time.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for teachers and students, April 29, 2005

By 

Thomas Paul (Plainview, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Murach's C# (Paperback)

This is an excellent book for the beginning C# programmer. The book uses a "paired-page" format where the page on the left gives descriptions of a concept and the page on the right provides examples, syntax, and additional information. Although this does lead to some repetition, overall it provides clearer explanations of concepts that are laid out in front of you all at once. It also makes it easier to go back, find, and review information read previously.

The book starts with a tour of C# which leans heavily on Visual Studio. The first three chapters cover using VS.NET and very little C# code is presented. In fact, explanations of how to work in Visual Studio are provided throughout the book. The next two sections, covering 12 chapters, cover the details of programming in C# and writing object oriented code. The coverage of OO is excellent and it will remove much of the mystery associated with OO programming. Database programming using ADO.NET is covered at a good level of detail in five chapters. The final section covers reading and writing files including using the .NET classes to read and write XML files.

In many ways this book provides a level of detail not found in other books with plenty of code samples to help clarify the material. The only thing not covered is ASP and web forms. I can highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning C# or to anyone planning to teach a C# programming course. The book is well designed as a textbook for a programming class. It includes objectives, a summary, a list of important terms, and programming exercises at the end of each chapter. A student workbook and an instructor CD are available.