Customer Reviews

Visual C# 2005 How to Program (2nd Edition)

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

 

 

Visual C# 2005 (2nd edition) is an excellent book, while it is very lengthy, the book covers most of the topics with an extreme amount of detail. While the main focus of the book is C#, coverage of XML and ASP is also included. The review questions at the end of each chapter made this book have a text book feeling commonly seen in a classroom, but this was highly useful. This book is not meant as a quick intro into a programming language, but rather an intermediate or deep study of C#.

The book is too expensive, plain and simple. It does not deliver for the price you have to pay but it is "academic friendly" so you'll have to buy it if you take college programming classes.

The book starts out very slow and drawn out. So many statements are made by the authors in this book that, while they are indeed true, are so abundant and on even the most mundane topics you forget what you're supposed to be learning. The authors wrote a programming book in which they dedicate painful step by step procedures (with complete screenshots) of how to start a new project in the VS IDE and such. I find that insulting. If you have this book, chances are you have been using Windows for more than two weeks and know how to create new documents, etc from the standard menu items. Also, chances are this isn't your first programming book. It is not marketed as a complete beginner book or for an introduction to programming course. Visual Studio isn't THAT complicated to start using; I'd be very surprised if any reader of this book would be completely lost if they didn't have their hand held while starting a new project. "Click File - New Project. Click OK. See Figure 3.1." They repeat this type of hand holding all throughout the book.

The book "Programming in the Key of C#" devotes one small paragraph to the process of creating a new project, and this is very much a beginner's programming book. No figures, no screenshots just a very simple explanation.

They go all out in the minutia to woo academia because it's so correct. It has the sense of completeness but lacks where it counts; understanding the topic.

In their painful attention to detail and accuracy (which are usually good qualities to have), they have gone too far to see the forest for the trees. What's worse is sometimes you'll find pertinent information buried within the fluff, so you can't skip over anything.

I could explain what a flower is in 10 pages of semi-related information while going off on tangents and you still wouldn't know what a flower was. It's just as important to show readers the information they need to know, as it is to hide from them the information they do not need to know.

Here's a quote directly from the book:
"Exception handling enables programmers to create applications that can resolve (or handle) exceptions."

Exception handling lets you handle exceptions....

I like the how to program series from Deitel, I own several books including the Java third edition and the C++ second edition. my favorite is the java because has a neat cyberspace add on. The book is ideal for a Java programer who likes to learn Visual C#, the languages are similars making the transition smooth. The book offers numerous code examples and it is easy to download the software from microsoft for free. To my taste I would rather prefered the GUI interface introduced earlier than chapters 13 & 14. it makes the first 12 chapters arid using console interaction only. Overall is an exellent book as the whole how to program series is.

Using this book, with the MS Visual Studio .NET 2005 version, the MS Visual C# 2005 version, and the MS SQL Server 2005 version, one can learn a lot with the new platform. The codings are very much the same as the 2003 version. It is not too difficult for any one who has done C, C++, Java, or Visual BASIC programming. The exercises are very good and have been tested in corporate training sites. I am currently using an older version of this book, for a training class with 14 electrical engineers. Four people are using this book. They are happy with the book, exercises and the software. They are working on their final projects now.

The book will be better if more server side applications are covered. More discussion on the differences between Java and C# will be useful for developers.

WARNING: Quite frankly this is not a book for beginning programming students. It moves at an accelerated rate and does not offer any basic examples of introduced material. You MUST have your basic OOP concepts down cold BEFORE you begin reading. I heard this a lot about Deitel books, so please be aware.

For example: in Ch. 9 Classes and Objects: A Deeper Look, he introduces us to Indexers (simply a way of accessing an object like an array). He offers a brief discussion, a syntax example and immediately goes into a 3-page code example that completely convolutes the description/definition of a very simple point.

I've heard this complaint a lot about Deitel books and it primarily boils down to balancing the goals of building a tool for students (which he claims this is for) and an accurate reference for Academic Faculty or Industry approval. He claims to have had (3) student interns on the book, however I suspect they were in advanced degree curricula, thus not really qualified to offer a beginners viewpoint.

Regardless, I must confess I have not covered the book completely cover to cover, and must concede that this book does contain a vast ocean of material for reference. However, I suspect that many will be rereading material over and over again (besides trips to MSDN to get better descriptions).

Also, the ink on the pages smear like crazy. At least I know where I've been...

Deitel books are great because they come in full color (a great pedagogic help), this one doesn't, this book is worthless without color, Thers is no value added in it, no diferentiation, you can use others instead.

The best way to learn C# or any programming language is to type out and debug many programs. This book provides many examples for the same. Although I find this book too wordy, I recommend to read the book to get the best out of it.

A good book is short and concise. This book for all the pages is missing good explainations and details about the topics.Their thinking is 4 pages of code is good info. Its not. A explaination then a short block of code is good info.

This is an excellant book on C# for programmers and also for those who don't know any programming.
Deitel books are recommended for everyone. I trully enjoy their books.

Every book I buy that ships from the facility that typically handles this book arrives damaged and is poorly packed. Beyond shipping...

The books content organization is poor as well. For self learning, I would not recommend this title. Otherwise, you can take a stab at it if you are already familiar to programming.