The C# Programming Language (Covering C# 4.0) (4th Edition) (Microsoft Windows Development Series) [Hardcover]

Anders Hejlsberg (Author), Mads Torgersen (Author), Scott Wiltamuth (Author), Peter Golde (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0321741765 | ISBN-13: 978-0321741769 | Edition: 4

“Based on my own experience, I can safely say that every .NET developer who reads this will have at least one ‘aha’ moment and will be a better developer for it.”

–From the Foreword by Don Box 

The popular C# programming language combines the high productivity of rapid application development languages with the raw power of C and C++. Updated to cover the new features of C# 4.0, including dynamic binding, named and optional parameters, and covariant and contravariant generic types, this release takes the language to the next level by adding the ability to cleanly write programs that don’t rely on static type definitions. This allows dynamic programming languages such as Python, Ruby, and JavaScript to feel native to C#. The C# Programming Language, Fourth Edition, continues to be the authoritative and annotated technical reference for C# 4.0.

 

Written by Anders Hejlsberg, the language’s architect, and his colleagues, Mads Torgersen, Scott Wiltamuth, and Peter Golde, this volume has been completely updated for C# 4.0. The book provides the complete specification of the language, along with descriptions, reference materials, code samples, and annotations from twelve prominent C# gurus.

 

The many annotations bring a depth and breadth of understanding rarely found in any programming book. As the main text of the book introduces the concepts of the C# language, cogent annotations explain why they are important, how they are used, how they relate to other languages, and even how they evolved.

 

This book is the definitive, must-have reference for any developer who wants to understand C#. With annotations from: Brad Abrams, Joseph Albahari, Krzysztof Cwalina, Jesse Liberty, Eric Lippert, Christian Nagel, Vladimir Reshetnikov, Marek Safar, Chris Sells, Peter Sestoft, Jon Skeet, and Bill Wagner.

 

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Anders Hejlsberg is a programming legend. He is the architect of the C# language and a Microsoft Technical Fellow. He joined Microsoft Corporation in 1996, following a thirteen-year career at Borland, where he was the chief architect of Delphi and Turbo Pascal.

 

Mads Torgersen is the Program Manager for the C# language at Microsoft, where he runs the day-to-day language design process and maintains the language specification.

 

Scott Wiltamuth is Director of Program Management for the Visual Studio Professional team at Microsoft Corporation. At Microsoft, he has worked on a wide range of development tools, including OLE Automation, Visual Basic, Visual Basic for Applications, VBScript, JScript, Visual J++, and Visual C#.

 

Peter Golde was the lead developer of the original Microsoft C# compiler. As the primary Microsoft representative on the ECMA committee that standardized C#, he led the implementation of the compiler and worked on the language design. He is currently an architect at Microsoft working on compilers.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 864 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 4 edition (November 10, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321741765
• ISBN-13: 978-0321741769
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 1.8 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #448,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid book on C#, but... June 14, 2011

By Björn

Format:Hardcover

I have 1e, 3e, 4e of this book, 1e was a classic, but from 3e, the format changed and a dozen or so annotators joined to contribute to the somewhat dry language description. This was certainly a good thing. However, it would have been better if someone more carefully reviewed the text.

I found two obvious errors in the first 50 pages:

p38: the classes Student and Employee should derive from Person.

p48: "Unfortunately, with the event keyword, Completed is just a public field of type delegate,
which can be stepped on by anyone who wants to"
which should read "..., without the event keyword...".

These might be minor details to an experienced reader, but for someone new to C#, it's very confusing.

What's more annoying is the lack of a place to submit errata so that new printings can correct these defects.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Three stars February 23, 2012

By Patrick E. King

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I code in C# but do not yet have a great reference or a primer on the architecture of the language such as I have for Java. After getting this book, I am no better off. I wanted to just browse through and learn, but gave up on that quickly. The book has four main authors and fourteen others who contribute little boxes - the effect is something like reading some code that began with somewhat random structure that has been patched by eighteen people.
I thought about how vast the topic of collections and arrays is. Hejlsberg et. al. provide only an 8 page chapter on "Arrays" which hits some of the high points but to me was mostly fluff. Nothing on collections, nothing on what types and categories of collections exist by function, or even by name. There is a similar chapter on Delegates.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read if you want to really understand C# July 23, 2012

By Nigel Shaw

Format:Hardcover

I read the reviews that complain the book is too technical. Honestly, what do you expect when you buy the definitive reference written by the author and chief architect of the language? For those who want to truly understand C#, this book is an absolute must-have. Don't use it to learn C#. There are many primers on the language. Use it to study C# if you really want to take your understanding to the next level.