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Rating: 
Summary: Too easy and then too hard
Review: Actually, first half the book has a very nice step-by-step progression for someone starting C# (somewhat painfully slow if you have had some programming background, however). Then you had better be holding on to your seat because it jumps into some advanced topics like OO and delegates and (in my opinion) does a poor job of explaining them. I got totally confused reading this books explanation of delegates and after reading a few sentences in my other C# book (Mastering Visual C#.NET) on the subject, it made perfect sense. In fact, although this is not a bad book, I think that Mastering Visual C#.Net is much much better...maybe one of the best I have read, in fact. (and I have read most of about 15 .net books so far)Anyway, it you like are very very gradual start then it may be worth getting for the first half, anyway...but there might be better, even for that... EarlT777@Hotmail.com
Rating: 
Summary: Happy I picked it up
Review: For once an MS Press step by step book has exceeded my expectations. This book does an execelent job of explaining C# from three perspectives. New to programming, C or C++ experience, VB experience. It explains the changes from the latter two and points out how this is an improvment. As an experienced programmer, I've been able to skim chapters I already understand. There is a guide at the front that suggests chapters that I'd be interested in. I also like the chapter format, that gives you a estimated time to complete each chapter. I was scouring for a C# book that was going to give me as much info as I could get, without dropping the typical [money] for a computer book. This is definately the best one I found. I can refer back to it as a reference, and it touches on the other .net technologies too.
Rating:
Summary: Great Step by Step C# Primer
Review: I don't know why Amazon dumped all the reviews of this book, but this is the only book I'd take the time to re-review. Perhaps this is a newer edition, but I found no significant errors in the original. I believe samples work in both framework 1.0 and 1.1. Sharp and Jagger have produced an exceptionally readable, instructive, useful book that is the only one of eight I've read that I can honestly say I was sorry to finish. Every exercise was well written, taught me a major feature I needed to know, and made me eager to do more. The exercises are so well written I can refer back to them as guides to writing my own code but this is not primarily a reference book. I even got a reply to an email from John Jagger via his website. I'd buy anything along these lines he cares to publish! It's not the only book you may need, but should be among the first you read after you grasp the basics of the C# language and are ready to use Visual Studio.NET.
Rating:
Summary: Best of Five Books on C# and Visual Studio
Review: I hated to see it end. Thankfully, the extra exercises on the CD gave me more great practice that made me feel I finally could write good software in Visual Studio. Each lesson covered a useful technique or feature from Windows forms, ADO.NET, even customizing DataGrids, to ASP.NET and web services. The code was clear, useful, well explained, and it worked! I found almost no erratta and didn't realized the authors were in the UK until I had finished (great editing, no idomatic expressions). I look forward to another book by Sharp and Jagger. I like the way they write and learned more from them than all four other books I have on the subject. I had no unanswered questions and was never bored. Any repetition was good practice on things you need to know cold and use, like filling a DataSet from a SqlDataAdapter or try/catch and MessageBox.Show(). Things weren't over-simplified. I believe they had me practicing good coding technique throughout, even tier separation, unlike many other books. Covering ASP.Net Forms right after Windows Forms made it easier to understand and remember the differences. First, learn the basics of C# from a reference volume (I particularly liked Petzoldt's emphasis on SCOPE) then get this book to dive into Visual Studio and learn while doing it step by step. All major features of Visual Studio .NET Pro are used and code well explained (except maybe delegates but they take volumes to explain). I expect to refer back to this book when I get stuck building my own projects. These authors raise the bar for all the others. Six stars would be more appropriate.
Rating: 
Summary: Great start for experienced OO programmers
Review: If you are familiar with Java, C++, Objective C, or SmallTalk, then this is a good starter primer for C#. This is particularly good for experienced Java developers that want to jump in, and get started on C#. The second part of the book is a solid primer on Windows Forms and other Windows specific bits of .NET. I recommend this title.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for Starts But....
Review: The book is wonderful if your new to C# .net and want a guided tour. However, even though the book goes over alot of examples the code samples are made to illustrate a point of the chapter and no reference on how the application was made is given. What I done to get the most out of the book was read it from cover to cover first and looked at what the code examples was trying to illustrate. After I read the book then i went thru each example and reviewed the code and tried to make my application work like they had without using their code. Others learn differently but thats the only way I could get anything from this book. I like the Chapter quicknotes. If you take those postit note tabs and put them on those pages they make a great reference.
Rating:
Summary: Great Quick Start
Review: This book helped me get back up to speed in a week. I left programming for project management after VB 6. This got me flying fast with .NET. Once this book is completed probably 2 weeks you will need to get a more advanced book but this gets you going faster than an advanced book would.
Rating: 
Summary: Could be much better...could be worse....
Review: This was the first C# book I studied and thought that I just couldn't comprehend some concepts.....until I got another book--Mastering Visual C#.NET, which is MUCH BETTER. Then I realized that I wasn't me, it was how the author presented (or not presented) the information. And with all the errors in the programs, it was harder to know what was right and what was wrong. Granted, there is a lot of information to give and a person CAN actually learn some of it from this book but I would suggest, try another book.
Rating: 
Summary: Put me to sleep
Review: Very easy to follow and understand. Great step by step examples from C# to XML, XML Schemas, ASP.NET, and some introductions to ADO.Net. I Liked this book. It works great hand in hand with Wrox "Beginning ASP.Net with C#" which also covers all these ideas as well.
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