Rating: 
Summary: Not so good...
Review: I beg to differ with most reviewers: the book is not so good to deserve 5 stars, or even 4. I give it 2 stars only because 1) it really is one of few books that focus in C# and doesn't go into a myriad of other .NET topics, and 2) some of the examples are insightful. However, the book's goals are inconsistent in general. The first chapters give an overview of object-oriented programming, so it seems the book is geared towards beginners, who might not know C and C++. But many examples use language features that were not introduced before, and in some of them the author doesn't even try to explain what are these things and why were they included. Programmers experienced with other OO languages (mainly C++ and Java) will be able to understand, but these readers wouldn't need to read an introductory overview of OO concepts. That's why the book is inconsistent. Unfortunately, there are more problems: some examples weren't particularly well-thought, and one of them (about user-defined conversions) is nothing short of horrible. Ok, so I may be stupid, but I had to type the code, compile it, and trace its execution step by step to really understand it. And after all this I could not believe what I saw: a Celsius object really stores temperatures in fahrenheit, and only when it is converted to a float through a user-defined conversion is that the numerical value of the temperature is converted to Celsius. The same happens in the Fahrenheit class (which stores temperatures in celsius, in the example). And this conversion to float is only required when the value of the object is to be displayed... talk about "textbook examples". Kids, don't try this at home. It's really terrible, terrible practice in real-world code. As a last note of discontentment, the book really should not be called "Inside C#". Aside from a few superficial looks at what the compiler is doing by examining disassembles of code, nowhere does the book treat the language in depth. It is more of a "fast overview of C# for people that already know at least C++". One of the many examples of shallowness that I happen to remember now is about method overloading: precise rules for overload resolution are not given anywhere, only hinted about. Summing up, it is not worthless, but it's far from definitive. Better books on C# will surely appear, as we developers deserve. Right now I recommend "Programming C#" from O'Reilly over this one.
Rating: 
Summary: waiste of money
Review: I think this book should be called a reference for c# for people who know c or c++. why oh why do all do most books about c# assume that the user has an indepth knowledge of either c or c++. this book is badly laid out badly writen and if i could i would take it back and try and get my money back.
Rating: 
Summary: Great reference for C# - highly recommended
Review: I got this book when it first came out and have used it frequently since then. It is a great reference and also has a lot of useful examples. If you are going to use C# you should definitely get this book and read it cover to cover. Based on my experience with this book we ordered several more copies for others in my company as well. I have used it so much over the last year that the book is well worn, and I'm looking forward to ordering the Second Edition when it becomes available (Spring 2002).
Rating:
Summary: Thanks to T.Archer
Review: Thanks to mr. Archer for this excellent book. I hope that Microsoft .Net and exactly C# programming language is new look for feature of information technologies. Easy read, comprehensive information about C# basics and advanced programming. In this book I also founded information about .Net basics, CLR and other. Thanks.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for quick jump into C#
Review: Very good book covering all major aspects of C# programming with comprehensive code examples and without boring speculations on the unrelated topics. Worth every cent of its price.
Rating:
Summary: [...] right for once!!!
Review: I finally broke down to [...the] marketing ploy and purchased the combination of C# books presented on the Inside C# page. It was definitely a great choice. Archer's book was clear, concise and very much to the point - just what I needed to get started. Troelsen's book was then the perfect compliment as it provided much .NET BCL information (Inside C# is just that - a book on the language only). I would highly recommended getting this two book special[....]!
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??
Rating:
Summary: Much better than all the rest
Review: Anyone that thinks just because this book also caters to the beginner (see the OOP and intro chapters at the beginning) is very much mistaken! This book does start out slowly (let's fact facts, nowadays each book has to cater to the entire range of experiences), but it quickly accelerates and includes BY FAR THE BEST COM INTEROP chapter and MULTI-THREADING chapters of all the current (12/2/01) C# books. Job well done, Microsoft. If all your books were this good, I'd be sold on your line. Sincerely,
Susan Kay
Rating:
Summary: Great for students!!
Review: I have read this book and was surprised to find a book that caters to the needs of students like me so well! I sincerely congratulate the author for this wonderfull effort as Inside C# as it is the best C# book available!
Rating:
Summary: Easily the best C# book on the market!
Review: I've been using C# since early beta and this book is by far the most comprehensive coverage of the language currently available. Make sure you read that last sentence carefully. This book is not a .NET book. However, this is exactly the type of book that is needed for those of us who want to learn the core language itself.
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