C# 2.0: The Complete Reference (Complete Reference Series) (Paperback)

by Herbert Schildt (Author) "C# is Microsoft's premier language for .NET development..." (more)
Key Phrases: invoking dictionary, following indexer, invoking string, Visual Studio, Decrement Thread, Increment Thread (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This comprehensive volume is fully updated for C# 2.0 -- the newest version of Microsoft's revolutionary programming language.The changes found in C# 2.0 bring Java-like power to millions of Windows programmers worldwide. With expertly crafted explanations, insider tips, and hundreds of examples, this book fully explains every aspect of C# 2.0. Written in the clear, uncompromising style that has made master programming author Herb Schildt the choice of millions, the book covers all the new and existing features of this major programming language.

From the Back Cover
THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE C# RESOURCE AVAILABLE!

Herb Schildt, the world's leading programming author, has updated and expanded his classic C# reference to cover C# 2.0 -- the newest version of Microsoft's premier programming language designed for .NET development. With carefully crafted explanations, insider tips, and hundreds of examples, this book offers in-depth coverage of all aspects of C#, including its keywords, syntax, and core libraries. Of course, detailed coverage of the new C# 2.0 features, such as generics, nullable types, anonymous methods, partial class declarations, and the :: operator, is included. Essential for every C# programmer, this comprehensive reference is written in the clear, crisp, uncompromising style that has made Herb the choice of millions. Whether you are a beginning programmer or an experienced pro, the answers to all your C# 2.0 questions can be found in this definitive guide.

COVERAGE INCLUDES:

• Data types and operators
• Control statements
• Classes and objects
• Constructors, destructors, and methods
• Interfaces, arrays, enumerations, and structures
• Method and operator overloading
• Inheritance and virtual methods
• Reflection and runtime type ID
• Exception handling
• Delegates, properties, events, and indexers
• Attributes
• Pointers and "unsafe" code
• Multithreading
• Generics
• Nullable types
• Anonymous methods
• The collection classes
• The I/O classes
• Networking
• The preprocessor and much, much more

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Product Details

• Paperback: 890 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 2 edition (December 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072262095
• ISBN-13: 978-0072262094
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #642,135 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference, April 21, 2006

By	ueberhund "ueberhund" (Salt Lake City, UT United States) - See all my reviews

When they say "The Complete Reference", they aren't kidding! This is the most thorough, complete book on the C# 2.0 language that I have seen. It's an excellent reference manual-definitely among the best available. This book is divided into three sections-a reference to the C# language, a reference to the .NET libraries you can reference with C#, and a section that shows how C# can be applied to a variety of programming problems.

The first section-the C# language reference-is exactly what you would expect. The author begins with an introduction to variables and operators, moves into a discussion on control statements (e.g. loops), followed by a discussion on class design. After the discussion on object oriented programming, more advanced language issues are discussed, like arrays, inheritance, delegates, and even generics (which are completely new to C# 2.0).

The second section takes a deep-dive into some of the most common .NET libraries. As the author explores these namespaces, many excellent examples are provided that go right along with the namespace being discussed. There are excellent discussions on strings, collections, multithreaded programming, and generics, just to name a few.

In the final section of the book, the author ties together many of the concepts discussed in earlier sections of the book by building several different types of applications. In this section, you can see how these applications are created from start to finish.

I was very impressed with this book-it's an excellent reference, accessible to beginning C# developers all the way up to experienced C# programmers who just can't remember the correct syntax for a particular operation. I would highly recommend it as an addition to your reference library.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thorough reference with a few gaps, March 25, 2006

By	Craig Bolon "persistentreader" (Massachusetts, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Schildt has updated his C# reference with a language-centered approach. He describes Microsoft's .NET environment in the context of the language. However, he is primarily concerned to explain and document C# as a programming language, even though it is imbedded in a proprietary environment. The successful precedents for this approach extend back to Cobol, Fortran and PL/I.

Although generally thorough, the book's coverage has gaps. For example, the book rushes through C# structures in five pages (pp. 325-330), saying that a struct is "similar to a class" but failing to explain fully how it differs. Inner structures, the syntax of their uses, and their potential access conflicts are not mentioned. Neither are methods on structures other than constructors. The coverage of generic collections omits to mention the curious lack of a Reset() method in the interface their enumerators implement. It does not explain how to use generic interfaces such as IEnumerable<> at the same time as their non-generic equivalents, nor does it warn about lack of generic equivalents for interfaces such as ICloneable.

The code examples in Schildt's book, "C# 2.0, Complete Reference" (Osborne, 2006), use the antique hanging brace format carried over from Dennis Ritchie's style c. 1970 rather than the more readable aligned braces favored since then. They do not apply Microsoft's recommended naming conventions (but then neither do most books from Microsoft Press).

For the most part, however, Schildt's book fills out the empty spaces in Microsoft's documentation of C# and provides a full and well organized description of the language that software professionals will find most helpful.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Aptly Mis-named Book, February 13, 2007

By	J. Butler (Kissimmee, FL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book should be titled "C# - A Beginner's Reference" This book is far from complete. It offers very little in the way of advanced reference material, and has nothing on C# Web Applications. The book is okay for a beginner's reference, but not really worth its cost for programmers who already have a background in other programming languages. This book covers the basics, basically, and that's about it. The title of this book is very misleading. I'd give it three stars; it does offer a good reference for basic material; but the misleading title brings my rating down to two stars.