C# Programmers Reference [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ Grant Palmer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

C# Programmer's Reference provides a comprehensive reference to the C# language and the core .NET class libraries which you will need to use in every C# program. Filled with short, to-the-point examples, and with no wasted space, this book is divided into two main sections. The first half of the book looks in detail at every aspect of the C# language itself, in a sequence of short, very fast-paced chapters designed especially for easy reference. The second half looks at the types defined in the most commonly used class libraries and their methods and properties, with examples of their use. To keep the book as concise and usable as possible, the larger class libraries such as ADO.NET and Windows Forms are not covered.

From the Publisher

This book is ideal for anyone who already knows the basics of C#, but needs a concise reference to the language and to the class libraries which they use constantly. While it's not intended as a tutorial, it will also be great for anyone who already knows the syntax of a related C-style language, and likes to pick up languages through short code examples.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 550 pages
• Publisher: Wrox Press; 1st edition (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861006306
• ISBN-13: 978-1861006301
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,751,610 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good reference aimed at the experienced programmer, October 4, 2002

By	Southern California .NET User Group (SoCalNETug.org) - See all my reviews

Bottom line: Good reference for C# program syntax, and structure and as rudimentary reference, but you would definitely need more (either from online doc, or other books in the series) to make up for the topics that this book leaves out.

This book is aimed at the experienced programmer who is already well versed in another language (C, C++, or Java are most closely related) and wants a reference on commonly used objects in the .NET framework. It is not meant as a C# tutorial, which is made clear on the cover and back of the book, as well as in the "Who is this book for?" section of the introduction. My review included a cover to cover read through of the book, although this is not the recommended use of this book. It should be used as it's title indicates "Programmer's Reference." That is, it should be sitting in arms reach of your workstation whilst you are coding and I think you'd get the best day to day use of it that way.

The book is 28 chapters, and the first 20 are short and cover the C# language itself. The last 8 cover: .NET class roadmap; System classes, Collections, I/O, Reflection, Text manipulation, Regular expressions, and Threading. There is one appendix on keywords, and one on Naming Conventions. The book is 555 pages and includes a very complete 30 page index which I referred to frequently to look up concepts covered previously in the text.

What I like about the book: 1. it is that is extremely concise. 2. There are many fully functional short programs that demonstrate one or two objects, and the syntax to use them. These can be used as examples in larger applications that developers can use 3. It is very well organized with a condensed quick ref. table of contents on the inside cover, and more detailed contents a few pages in. What I didn't like was that it skipped large sections of the Framework class library. This is not necessarily bad, however, since it's aim is to cover frequently used, not all, classes, and it did give references to other books (published by Wrox of course) that contain the lacking information.

I downloaded the code examples from the Wrox website and the handful that I compiled and executed ran without a hitch. ---Reviewed by Bill Morgan

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good quick reference, April 19, 2002

By	Christopher Boscarino "Old School Geek" (Woodland Hills, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a good reference for experienced C# programmers, or for those who know a related C syntax language who want an intro to the language without reading 200 pages of "what is a variable" and "why use loops" and other newbie stuff. Warning-It is a reference to the C# language, it barley touches on the .net class libraries at all. So if you need info on the datagrid, you are out of luck. Great book

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Concise Reference, July 17, 2003

By	"oop007" (CA USA) - See all my reviews

If you're already an experienced programmer with C++ or Java and don't want to waste your time reading long-winded text about C#, than this is your book. In roughly 200 pages, the author describes everything you need to know about C#. He describes it in a brief, complete, and well organized manner (assuming you know C++ and Java well). Not much fluff in this book. It is a great book if you want a concise description of the language. It also has a handy reference to different parts of the .Net library.

I bought this book because the Inside C# book was just too long. It could have been much shorter and just as effective. This book was the answer to my prayers. Now if there was only a short book on Windows Forms.