Presenting C#

Rating:
Summary: Presenting C# ...mmm.... Could be presented better
Review: 1. Not enough in depth info about the CLR.

2. Not very good index.

3. Chap 6 (control statment) should be a lot shorter specialy in 190 pgs book.

4. Chap 8 (Writing components) is way too simplistic, that would be understandable for an introduction but at least i would want to know a little bit more of the backhouse work.

5.Nothing about XML except for documenting C# code. come'on that the XML millennium we're talking about here...

6. Chapter 5 (classes) is good it covers everything i needed and it is well written.

Rating:
Summary: Very light...
Review: A very light overview of the C# language with correspondingly light examples. This book has enough depth to give you a 'feel' for the language but it's too shallow to teach C# programming. For example only two (small) pages are devoted to constructors and destructors, another two and half to events and delegates, etc. Generally I found the discussions so light that they generated more questions than they answered. Buy this book only if you want to get a taste of the C# language, you don't have a lot of time, and/or no alternative books are available. This is definitely the kind of book that you read once and then never open again.

Rating:
Summary: Nice presentation.
Review: A well done "do you have an evening" book that provides a quick review of the feature set available in C#. The examples are concise and conceptual, so if you're comfortable with C++ or Java then this book will expand your brain just fine; if all you know is VB then you may want to wait for something more comprehensive. The Java influence is blatant, to the extent that I think there should have been a chapter devoted to a compare and contrast against the Java language and programming model. If you're into Microsoft programming stuff buy this book.

Now, if I could just get my hands on the C# compiler...

Rating:
Summary: Useful Introduction
Review: Although I read this book a couple of years ago, I still remember it as a very useful introduction to C#. It is aimed at programmers, and covers pretty well several advanced topics. It does rely on some early CLR examples, which may be outdated, but overall, I highly recommend it as a first week-end glimpse at C#.

Rating:
Summary: A valuable heads-up to C#
Review: As a new language that is scheduled to be part of the Microsoft Visual Studio 7.0 bundle, C# (pronounced C sharp) is not yet readily available. However, given that it is a Microsoft product and derived from C++, it is a language to pay attention to. Therefore, my interest in this book was to obtain a heads-up introduction to the language. As a training provider, it is necessary to always look ahead to see what may be in demand a year or so in the future. In that respect it does a good job in providing a fundamental background.
You will not learn the language from this book if you have no experience in either C++ or Java. The approach is to show how some things are done in C# that are inherently dangerous in C++. The influence of Java is so pervasive, some of the passages are almost paraphrased from some of the comments I heard James Gosling make in a videotape. It is clear that this is a language designed to compete directly with Java. After reading this book, it is impossible to make any realistic projections concerning how dynamic that competition will be. However, it is a modification of a language that is widely understood, it is being promoted by Microsoft, and Java still has some maturation problems. Therefore, there is no question in my mind that it is a language to be considered.
If you are in IT and keeping current is of high priority for you, then this is a book to be read. You will not learn the language, but there is enough information to make preliminary observations as to where it might fit into your future.

Rating:
Summary: An early look, but...
Review: As you might expect with a book coming out long before the actual product it covers, it is a little light on details. If you have not yet looked at the actual C# documentation, this might be worth it, but likely if you have the C# documentation, there is not that much you will pick up. Also, sometimes book page counts listed are off a bit. Not this one: with the index, it is JUST 200 pages.

Rating:
Summary: Just a glimpse of the language but a good one at that
Review: Be prepared for a small book. 12 short chapters spread over 190 pages (effectively A5 size) with a poor index. No depth at all on any of the issues, just a mere presentation on what's to come in a language not publicly available yet. In other words you get what is promised in the title: A presentation to C#, which is good.

C# is Microsoft's new language to be shipped with Visual Studio.NET. The author is primarily targeting C++ programmers, but does at times make considerations for non-C++ programmers reading his book. It should be noted that VB.NET (or VB7) has all the features that C# will have. So VB programmers will benefit from going through C#'s feature set; one way or another the principles are identical - the syntax being the differentiator (that statement is 98% true).

Comparing C# to C++, the syntax is almost the same, there are no pointers and you can only write true OO code (in C++ you could always write just C). If this reminds you of Java, it should because as far as I could tell C# is Microsoft's Java. Any Java programmers can consider themselves C# programmers also. The differences have more to do with the .NET platform and all VS.NET developers will have to learn them.

The chapters that I found particularly useful were the ones describing how to write, configure and deploy C# components and also how to achieve interoperability between COM components and NGWS components. If you can't wait for a developer's guide to the language and environment, then get your hands on this book: it will only take you a day or two to read. It is not a reference or guide; rather it is a glorified, nicely presented whitepaper with very simple code examples.

Rating:
Summary: some good info, but already out of date
Review: Bottom line, this book is out of date. For example, trying to create a dynamic array. The book shows you how to do it and even provides sample code. However, the sample code doesn't compile on the latest public beta of Visual Studio 7. Digging through more recent documentation, I found that the the method of creating dynamic arrays has changed. This makes me wonder how much else in this book is out of date.

Rating:
Summary: Ths little for this much?
Review: Christoph Wille, Presenting C# (Sams, 2000)

The first thing the average reader is going to notice about this little volume is the size (just shy of two hundred pages) in relation to the price (twenty-five bucks). To say it's a little out of character for the computer book industry is roughly akin to saying that Calista Flockheart is "a tad on the thin side." Most computer programmers shelling out that kind of moolah expect eight hundred pages, a companion CD-ROM, and an online community. Books of this sort generally go for about half the price. At a guess, the expense here is going to curtail the readership quite a bit.

That's too bad, because as an introductory book, this one's pretty good. It's definitely of the survey school of computer book writing, and it's a very high-level overview. If you're hoping to find gobs of sample code and step-by-step tutorials, you've come to the wrong place. This is the more abstract material that will help you understand what's going on in the more general, theoretical world. As such, it's probably going to be of limited use at best for those who don't have one of those larger, slightly more expensive books. It makes a great companion volume, but to what I'm not yet sure. ** ½

Rating:
Summary: Small but concise presentation
Review: Even though this book is fairly small, we have to remember that C# is not publicly available yet either. The price of the book also reflect it's small size.

Having that in mind, this book will bring you a great heads-up on what's coming on with NGWS and C#. I would recommand this book to any C++ programmers that are looking in the future for a similar language.

But the book is also explained well enough in order for VB programmers to feel confident in what they are reading and what the differences will be. And for those VB/ASP(VBScript) programmers, this book will give you a great insight for the next major language that ASP+ will be using since the ASP+ compiler was done with C# (yup, not more VBScript; VB, C#, and other, but no scripting anymore).

The author seems knowledgable enough to both know VB & C++, and now C# as well. This is more than encouraging.