Accelerated C# 2005

I have to say I am VERY careful about buying books these days now. Back in the day I was book crazy. But these days I make sure that I buy quality books. This is one of them. What amazes me about this one (I initial looked at this one because I saw it recommended in MSDN Magazine) is that for such a small book, it pinpoints the most important relevant information and communicates it so well, that I feel people who do not know OOP at all would become at least very understanding of it by reading this front to back. It's also a nice reference for existing C# developers who forget "the small stuff" once in a while and is definitely a great book to have handy. Searching the web isn't always that efficient so I feel having some good books along with great Internet is complimentary and more efficient to use a bit of both.

This is the book I wish I had when I first started learning C#. I came from a C++ and Java background and love how the author quickly identifies the areas in C# that are identical and then focuses on the differences. He comes across in a practical manner and I can tell the author knows what he's talking about. I also didn't feel like I was wasting time on unimportant parts. In some places he even suggests skipping ahead if the material is already familiar (such as the chapter on Classes). The author's take on "Interfaces and Contracts" was refreshing. It was good to see someone talk about the practical ramifications of choosing between interfaces and base classes and the limitations that choice will place on the client code. From a web programmers perspective, the chapter on "Delegates and Events" shines light on an oft-misunderstood part of the language. Especially important when creating controls or trying to understand the best ways to interact with existing 3rd party controls. The example of using Delegates to implement the Strategy pattern was a nice surprise (it was still the basic "sort" example that everyone always uses when talking about the Strategy pattern but still nice to see in a C# book). My only complaints about the book are few and nit-picky. The author spends some time on Enums but doesn't point out the problems many programmers face when using them in the old C++ fashion (ie. can't treat them like int-types anymore). I would have liked to see a chapter on deployment to round out the book although I guess that's not really the focus. I also think the publishers shot themselves in the foot by putting a big "2005" in the title since the info is definitely still relevant and not out of date even now in the beginning of 2007. All in all, I think that Accelerated C# is a very good book and well worth the price. I strongly recommend this book for programmers who are new to C# but already familiar with C++ or Java. I also recommend this book for those who already know C# but want to "brush up" on some areas. I do not recommend this book for those who have not programmed in C++ or Java before. I would like to read a book on [...]by the same author.

I've got to say this is one of the best .NET books I've read in some time. The chart on the book's back cover bills it as something to read before Troellson's "Pro C# and the .NET 2.0 Platform", but I think it's actually more advanced and much more readable than that book. Trey's work is extremely well-written and comes in at a concise 400 pages. He covers a wide range of topics in those pages, hitting everything from syntax to CLR underpinnings to generics to multi-threading. His coverage on the workings of how assemblies get loaded and behave in the CLR is perhaps the best I've read on the topic. The book is a great balance of small, fundamental details and more complex issues. Examples of the first would include his clear explanation of the difference between using constants and readonly variables -- particularly since he clearly shows the impacts of making a decision for either kind. Examples of the more complex issues would include his very clear, very understandable treatment of threading in C#. His discussion of the more complex topics are aided by solid examples which often start out showing how not to do things (highly useful) and moving to better ways of doing things. (I should note I found one or two errors in the examples, but the general gist was always clear.) He also scatters a number of good practices or solid design idioms throughout the book such as why Bridge patterns can be helpful in various situations. Trey also makes occasional, pertinent examples with IL to discuss particular issues, such as how coding things two different ways might end up generating the same IL. Additionally, there's some good design-level items in the book. There's a lot of pro/con discussion on a number of issues such the drawbacks to inheritance, and there's a VERY good discussion of implementing contract-based design via interfaces as compared to abstract classes. Overall this is one of the best C# books I've read. I'd put it at a level close to Bill Wagner's Effective C#, which is pretty much the pinnacle of C# books as far as I'm concerned.

Accelerated C# 2005 covers the C# language extensively, and does not only teach you the syntax but also explains what happens under the hood, has great code examples, and gives recommendations on how to do, and NOT do to things in the language. The first four chapters cover the basics and the remaining nine delve into more advanced topics, including the newest enhancements to C# 2005 like Generics, Anonymous methods and Iterators. The book is written in a conversational style and is very easy to read. The author explains some of the pitfalls of concepts inappropriately and gives concrete examples of how to do things correctly. The author also goes into great detail as to what happens under the hood in the CLR when C# code is written and shows the reader how certain things are inefficient or unwise to do as a result. A reader would gain a great understanding of what happens underneath the surface when they are writing C# code by reading this book. Overall, this book is probably best suited for a C++ programmer moving to C#, since so much reference to C++ is made and it becomes immediately clear to an experienced C++ developer where the differences in C# lie. However, anyone who wants to learn C# in depth would benefit from this book. A great read!

It was recommended I should snag this book for my introduction to C#. Most of my programming experience is in C++ but it's been all Java the last 4 years..... and now...on to C#. I needed a book which would lay down the fundamentals of C# then hit the road running. This book fit the bill. The first few chapters explained the basics well enough to allow me to move straight into the more difficult areas that interested me. An obvious plus is the chapter layout, which allowed me to easily focus on specific areas of C#. The examples were short and clear about the points being made...another big plus. This book is dead serious about providing proper design principles. For that, it greatly raised my level of confidence about the C# informational value. In addition, the author many times explained why something should be done in a certain way as well as why it should not be done others way. This shows a level of investigation and understanding normally not found in many books. If you've been working C++ and/or Java for a while, I found this book really kept things tight and provided the information needed to excel my C# learning curve. If you are experienced and need a quick path to the C# world, this book will get you there ASAP.