Rating: 
Summary: Lives up to billing!
Review: Having been bitten before by the hype of a Miscrosoft Press book, I was a little worried when this book finally arrived. However, I can honestly say that this book met and even exceeded my expectations. It is by far the best beginner level book on learning C# on the market. I would like to have seen a bit more .net class stuff, however I didn't take off for that on my ranking because the book's focus is C# and not .net. Having said that, the book does contain a couple of the absolutely best chapters on the .net topics of multithreading and com interoperability available. With regards to the C# language, the book took its time in presenting subject matter without being overly verbose or condescending. I especially liked the fact that as one reviewer said, each topic had at least one demo to further explain what the author was saying and many topics had multiple demos - each building on the previous. I definite good buy in my opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, no-nonsense introduction to C#
Review: I agree with the basic sentiment expressed by the previous reviewers: The book is, for the most part, clearly written and has helpful examples. Do not, however, expect anything advanced or comprehensive: this is not the C# analog of Stroustrup's meaty tome on C++. It is though probably the best book currently available on the subject. The author does a particularly good job on Delegates (C#'s version of function pointers) and Custom Attributes (user-defined metadata that can be attached to various programmatic elements at compile-time). The section focusing on garbage collection algorithms was interesting, but not very useful, and I feel he could have done a better job with the exposition. I could have also done without the elementary introduction to OO, but I realize this will be beneficial for many readers. In conclusion, this is a good book that will get you started in C#, but may leave you wanting more.
Rating: 
Summary: Should be: "Introducing C#
Review: The title should be "Introducing C#." The author quickly highlights the features of the language with a few examples on each topic. The book is an easy read if you have any experience with object oriented programming. The examples are very basic and many of them have sloppy errors, i.e. the code which shows methods being overridden in a derived class where the method signatures do not match the signatures in the base class. This example may have been appropriate for overloading, but not overriding. Other than a few listings of ILDASM output showing how to optimize code using an overloaded operator+ call in a "+=" context, there is nothing that can be considered very insightful or "Inside" information. There are no examples of WinForms, ASP.NET, or anything other than console applications. The chapter of multithreading in the "Advanced" section is weak. I would not recommend this book to anyone with any object oriented experience. A beginner may find it helpful, but anyone else would be better off browsing the MSDN help for syntax and examples.
Rating:
Summary: Very well done!!
Review: Thankfully *someone* has finally gone beyond MSDN and provided me with something I can use. While trying not to be mean to the other C# books, my main complaint was that they start slow and never really pick up speed (this especially includes the Gunnerson book). In fact, truth be told, Archer's book starts out much the same way - very simple (too simple!) chapters aimed at beginners. However, at least he quickly picks up the pace from that point and by the time you get to the advanced topics of multithreading and reflection, you're learning things that are simply not covered in any other C# book. I was going to give this book a 4 based on the slow start (I mean, come on! a oop chapter at this day and age), but I do realize that there will be some beginners that will need that chapter. Therefore, my grade of 5 stars is based on the book from the middle on where he really gets into the meaty parts of C#.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book to learn C#
Review: If you're only going to buy one C# book, make this the one. While other books are good, this one is better. The material is covered in a professional manner, but what's more important is the way the author gives real-world explanations for everything. He goes beyond the obvious to give make it real and relate it to everyday development. Of special interest to me were the chapters on delegates and multithreaded programming. What the heck are delegates anyway? Read the book and find out--the explanation is great. Multithreaded programming is important for many situations. This chapter rates high because you can read it and immediately do it, not then have to figure out stuff that wasn't mentioned. My copy is now dog-eared, I read it almost every day as I myself become competent in C#
Rating:
Summary: Very introductory book
Review: If you want an easy to read introductory book on C#, this is probably the best so far. If you want to learn how to build real world apps, look elsewhere, as this book does not cover the .NET Framework classes. This bears repeating: This book focuses on C# and not the .NET Framework classes. It is useful for learning C#, but it is not useful for learning how to build business apps. As all of your data access is folded up into the .NET Framework classes, you will not learn data access from this book. While most of the code is simple enough to work under beta 2, the book was written using beta 1. I have yet to run into code that blows up (technical term ;->) under b2, but it is possible. Since it does not cover the Framework, it is probably safe. The strong part of the book is the breakdown of both beginning and intermediate concepts and the plethora of code samples (have to install from the CD to use). Each concept has at least one sample, and some concepts have many more, each building on the first. I have to rate this book as average, as it does not quite measure up completely to the cover copy. I kicked it up one star (to four) as it is an Inside book, which are typically aimed towards the developer/user that is just starting out in a technology. I would have knocked off stars if the code would not compile under b2, as it comes out in the next few weeks. Since it covers the language more than the Framework, this is not an issue. I am sure there are those who think this rating is a bit high, but let me explain. If you are advanced, or have played with C#, this book is not for you. As it is not aimed for the advanced market, per se, I cannot fault the book for what it is. Conclusion: If you want to learn the C# language and syntax, this is not a bad book. As it does not touch the .NET Framework classes, it will not be completely obsolete in a month, as will large sections of every other C# book. If you are interested in learning more about the Framework classes, and building real world apps, I would wait until the next round of books come out. Those in the next couple of months will most likely either be rushed or error ridden, so watch the reviews before buying.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't be further from the truth
Review: I read the book cover to cover, but wish I hadn't picked it up in the first place. It turned out to be one of the worst investment of my time. If you want to buy this book, forget it. Download the freely available C# language Speciciation, the tutorials in the spec are far better. This book is nice up to the first 6 or 7 chapters. (That's why many people thought it was a good book, 'cuz they didn't have time to read all the chapters before making a comment) The rest fell far short of expectation from MSPress's "Inside" titles. Its presentation on important topics like delegate, event and interface are so lousy that you'll be better off not reading them at all. (For event, it utterly failed to explain what's unique to the "event" keyword) If you are still not convinced this is one of those rubbish titles, let me point you to a glaring example in Chapter 13, the section on User-Defined Conversion. Spend 3 to 5 minutes on it, and see if you could make heads or tails of the gibberish. Do you think any self-respecting author would allow this sort of junk to slip into his flagship title? Guess the editor must have slept on the job as well. (Remember, it's already the second edition, so no more excuse on the time-to-market stuff) As I read on from chap 7, there was mounting doubt if the author spend nearly enough time to the basic research, and whenever I encounter some incomprehensible paragraph, my first thought would be "Tom messed up again?" A decent book on a programming language like C#(or java) should at least cover AND differentiate 2 aspects: 1) The language: All language elements, syntax, semantics, subtle differences, with easy-to-understand, practical examples.
2) The platform: i.e.: Core functions of the Framework Class Library, how to use I/O? how to manipulate strings, dates, how to do basic sorting/searching. For this book, it's just a muddled mix of the two, dotted with deassembled IL, and could be better renamed to "Tom's tome of study notes on C#" (you get the drift? that's right, Tom himself has a lot to learn about C#. Why not attend a training session from real giants like Jeff Richter, Tom?)
Rating:
Summary: Tom Archer is one of the best!!
Review: If Amazon.com had an MVP award (Most Valuable Purchaser) I'd have it. I spend a lot of time and money purchasing only the best technology books. Now with that said, let me tell you about "Inside C#." It's, hands down, the best book I've read. Right off the bat Archer explains the fundamentals of OOP, (a chapter all of us should read no matter what kind of OOP geniuses we think we are). He then goes into introducing .NET and never looks back. From C# Class Fundamentals to Writing Code and on to Advanced C#, he keeps you going and motivated to learn. I've gone through the book twice now and have it 'dog eared', marked, scribbled in and flagged. The author knows his stuff and it shows. Archer is an intelligent well-spoken author that gets the point across no matter what level of experience the reader has. All through the book he explains and re-explains what he's trying to say, (just in case you missed it the first time). Very few authors do this and needless to say it leaves many of us wondering what the heck their point was. In short, don't get left behind...."GET THE BOOK!!"
Rating:
Summary: Should be renamed
Review: This is actually an introduction to C#, good for beginners, but not for people who already have a lot of experience on other languages like C++. Title is misleading.
Rating:
Summary: Not Inside, But Still Good
Review: I would have to agree with the reviewer who said the title "Inside C#" is a misnomer in that it implies a technical depth and under-the-covers exploration that this book lacks. This is clear from the first few chapters which are, like many C# books, basically 'object oriented programming 101'. However, I would still rate this book fairly highly despite its relatively introductory nature. It's well written and the Advanced C# section (Threading, Reflection, Assemblies) is worth reading even after reading most of the other C# books. I particularly liked the chapter on Delegates which I think I finally understand, at least conceptually, after puzzling through Gunnerson and others descriptions. (This comment no doubt reveals the fact that I have no C++ background). One thing that this and all C# books I've read so far lacks is a description of the issues in deploying .NET applications to legacy PC's (ie. ones running Win2k, etc. and lacking the .NET BCL's). The Assemblies chapter, while otherwise strong, seems to assume that the target PC's will have the .NET Framework pre-installed. This might be true in the future, but isn't today. Can someone please cover this in a future .NET book??
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