Programming C# 3.0 [Paperback]

Jesse Liberty (Author), Donald Xie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0596527438 | ISBN-13: 978-0596527433 | Edition: Fifth Edition

Written by popular author and .NET expert Jesse Liberty, this thoroughly updated tutorial for beginning to intermediate programmers covers the latest release of Microsoft's popular C# language (C# 3.0) and the newest .NET platform for developing Windows and web applications.

Our bestselling Programming C# 3.0, now in its fifth edition, is a world-class tutorial that goes well beyond the documentation otherwise available. Liberty doesn't just teach C#; he tells the complete story of the C# language and how it integrates with all of .NET programming, so that you can get started creating professional quality web and Windows applications.

This book:

• Provides a comprehensive tutorial in C# and .NET programming that also serves as a useful reference you'll want by your side while you're working
• Covers all of the new features of the language, thoroughly integrated into every chapter, rather than tacked on at the end
• Provides insight into best practices and insight into real world programming by a professional programmer who worked with C# as an independent contractor for nearly a decade before joining Microsoft as a Senior Program Manager
• Every chapter in this book has been totally revised, and the entire book has been reorganized to respond to the significant changes in the language
• Full coverage, from the ground up of LINQ (Language Integrated Query) and other C# 3.0 language innovations to speed up development tasks
• Explains how to use C# in creating Web Applications as well as Windows Applications, using both the new Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and the older WinForms technology

This new edition of Programming C# 3.0 is for working programmers who want to develop proficiency in Microsoft's most important language. No prior .NET experience is required for you to get started. There's no time like the present to work with C# -- and no book like this one to teach you everything you need to know.

Special note to VB6 and Java programmers: if you've decided to transition to .NET, this book will take you there.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jesse Liberty, "Silverlight Geek", is a Senior Program Manager for Microsoft.

Even before joining Microsoft, Jesse was well known in the industry in part because of his many bestselling books, including O'Reilly Media's Programming .NET 3.5, Programming C# , Learning ASP.NET with AJAX and the soon to be published Programming Silverlight 4. Jesse has over two decades experience writing software, consulting and training, with stints as at AT&T as a Distinguished Software Engineer and at Citibank as a Vice President in the Information Division.

Donald Xie is a business analyst with Chevron. He loves programming and has worked as an independent solution consultant for many organizations. He is co-author of several books on general and .NET programming including Pro Visual Studio.NET and Fast Track ADO.NET.

Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; Fifth Edition edition (January 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596527438
• ISBN-13: 978-0596527433
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Silverlight Geek. (Senior Program Manager, Developer Community Liaison; Microsoft.) Helping to build a Silverlight developer community at http://SilverlightGeek.me.

Author of two dozen books on .NET and object-oriented programming including Programming C#, Learning ASP.NET with AJAX, Programming .NET 3.5 and forthcoming Programming Silverlight 4.

Queer Activist since 1971, father since 1989, avid reader since forever, eclectic music and film tastes, amateur photographer, programmer, writer, and loudmouth.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Careless revision, September 20, 2008

By 

Freeman (NYC, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Programming C# 3.0 (Paperback)

Jesse failed a loyal reader (C++ in 21 days). I observe that he is busy in producing books recently (co-authoring with other people with his name brand) instead of seriously improving this title. In ONE year period, he has generated the following titles. With a full time job in Microsoft, I doubt how much attention he can give to each of the titles
1. Programming C# 3.0
2. Learning C# 2008
3. Programming .NET 3.5
4. Programming ASP.NET 3.5
5. Learning ASP.NET 3.5
6. Programming Silverlight 2

Just read the Chapter 7 "Strucs" Example 7-1, and its code explanation, you will see how careless he is when putting a piece of code and talking something else.
p. 128 "Also notice that the Location constructor takes two integers and assigns their value to the instance members, xVal and yVal." Hey, where are these xVal and yVal in Example 7-1?
p. 130 "The definition of the Tester class in Example 7-1 includes a Location object* struct(loc1) created with the values 200 and 300. This line of code calls the Location constructor: Location loc1 = new Location(200,300);" Where is it in your Example 7-1? There is no constructor in the code! Jesse still uses the explanations in the 4th ed book while presenting a code different from the code in the 4th edition.

Example 21-4 crashes.

These kinds of mistakes are harmful to those who need confirmation about their understanding of new concepts. I doubt that he has really read through the book and checked the compliability before giving to the publisher.

The 5th edition cuts a few topics of 4th edition to cater for those materials to be presented in his other books (see the above) so that you have to buy two or three books in stead of one. I do not blame him, maybe it is necessary. If that's case, this book should focus on C# core language concepts with enough depth such that the readers have a one-stop source for C#. Leave Part III and Part IV (even Part II except LINQ concept) to other books. Superficial introducing topics will not be helpful for people who will use them.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good book, misleading cover., March 12, 2008

By 

Roberto Oropeza Gamarra - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Programming C# 3.0 (Paperback)

I know C++ at deep and I bought this book to learn the C# language, I've never used Java before.

I would give it 5 stars because it does what the title claims: teach the C# programming language, and it does very well, but I'm refusing to give the 5th star because in the top of the cover it claims it is a guide to building windows and web applications, for sure it is not, and the black strip on the book's cover claims it covers LINQ and XAML, and sincerly a couple of chapters and some examples is not covering, it's introducing. Authors should be more involved in this kind of stuff, and editors should stop telling lies.

The book teaches the C# language assuming you already know how to program, the margin notes are mostly for Java and Visual Basic programmers. Every concept is provided with an easy to follow source code example, and most are introduced quickly and to the point, although I wish the first 3 chapters were shorter. Almost all the code in the book is for the console, as the book doesn't try to teach the user interface. The last part of the book introduces some new technology of the .Net 3.5 as WPF, LINQ and XAML at a superficial level, I apreciated that because I didn't know nothing about this, I found the WindowsForms and .ASP chapters also superficial, but well, may be some readers don't know about it. The chapters on Threads and Streams are well explained and I'm happily surprised the author decided to include this advanced concepts. I think the container classes (Dictionaries and Arrays) deserves more pages and more performance advices.

The book has few typographical errors, as a capital letter where it should be lower-case, fortunately they were not in the source code.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Mistakes galore, March 28, 2008

By 

Rajeev Goel "rg" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Programming C# 3.0 (Paperback)

I respect Jesse for all that he's done to educate the masses in a wide variety of programming-related topics. But I'm not impressed with this book primarily because it is chock full of mistakes. A technical book that contains so many mistakes makes learning the language so much more difficult. I have found code snippets that don't even compile.