Microsoft Silverlight Books

The book for beginners and C#

Forget BrainFirst C#, forget Programming C# 4.0... I think this book slightly surpasses even Murach's C#. I spent an hour poring over about a dozen C# books at the store. This is the one I bought. Though I do think the word Illustrated in the title is being generous (more like monochrome diagrams) the diagrams do work to help for the topic at hand. Explains topics very methodically, and at a very good pace. Introduces 'larger' examples well, too, especially classes. I've only used this book for a little more than a week, but it's been a great purchase.

D. Garber
26 October, 2010

A great introduction to the C# language

This book provides an excellent introduction to the C# language. If you're looking for an exhaustive analysis of all of the features in C# through version 3.0, this is not the book for you. However, you will certainly walk away understanding most of the key features of the language.

The topics in this book are explained very well and the author does a good job of explaining in concise detail many of the aspects of C#. For example, delegates are introduced before anonymous methods, which are introduced before lambda expressions, which are then introcuded before LINQ and Events. By the time you get to LINQ, you've become familiar with the syntax lambda expressions and how to interpret them. On the other hand, the section on LINQ is very limited compared to the potential reach of this topic. Many readers will likely find themselves wanting to explore areas of C# further once they have a grasp of the basics in this book.

Although the author does on occasion introduce "best practices" for certain programming patterns as well as common mistakes to avoid, it should be noted that these notes by the author are few and far between. The examples in the book are very simple, all using System.Console. Thus while chapters are completed as the topic has been very well introduced, I sometimes felt like I would have liked to have seen more examples using different applciations. However, I feel the book would have had to be twice as long and the explanations were perfect for the scope of this book.

This author did an excellent job writing this book.

B. McCormack
30 November, 2009

Well organized

1. This book is very easy to understand
2. I love how the author ILLUSTRATE what is being done
3. Author`s approach to the reader is very effective
4. Once a reader get stucked on a line code hard to understand that is considered dead end. But not this book.
5. I have more than 720 books. Most of my engineering books are quite tough to read because author failed how to easily impart information to the reader. But not this author.



E. Antonio
17 November, 2009

Great Introduction to C#

I had previously delved into C# via Wrox Publishing's "Beginning Visual C#" and found it to be a little too convoluted for my taste. I then turned to this book and found that it covered most of the basics of C# clearly and succinctly. While the illustrations certainly helped, the most beneficial aspect of the book is the simple examples (code snippets) that the author uses to demonstrate each topic.

That being said, I do not think that this is a beginning programmer's book. I had previously studied other programming languages (VB, C++, Python) and markup languages (HTML, XML, CSS), and if you have a similar background, you should have no problem launching yourself into C# with this book. If you are new to the programming world, then this book is probably not for you.

All in all, a great place to get started with C#.

D. Call
01 September, 2009

For Experienced Programmers Only

This book is for programmers not individuals new to programming. This book covers C# 2008 pretty well in terms of explaining C# constructs such as how to write a class and explaining all the nuances of it. However, very little to no explanation is given for why you would want to use whatever the author is explaining--the big picture is pretty much missing. This book will work best for someone that already has a basic understanding of the .NET framework and programming and just wants to get up-to-date on C# 2008.

So, why should you read this book?

1) There is a plethora of examples and they all work. I don't think I have ever seen more sample code.
2) This is a deeply object oriented approach to C#, as it should be.
3) You are a programmer and want to get up-to-date on C# 2008--you are not looking to learn how to program.
4) The functional explanations of C# constructs are clear and complete. Hey, the guy has a degree in English and it shows.
5) The book is not terribly long. You will be able to finish it in a reasonable amount of time (726 pages).
6) I found many illustrations useful even though a few seemed redundant.
7) The author's treatment of LINQ was done very well and clearly.
8) Once having read the book and worked the examples you will have solid C# 2008 skills and be ready to extend your knowledge with other books and training materials.
9) It is fun and mostly easy to read.

Okay then what's not to like?

1) My biggest criticism is for the most part there is no discussion of how or why you would apply a particular C# construct being taught. For example, if you were learning to use an auto mechanic's tools you would learn how to use a box wrench, an open end wrench and an adjustable wrench but no idea of why you would choose one wrench over another for a particular task.
2) Inner Exceptions were not covered in the chapter on exceptions.
3) While almost all explanations of C# constructs were done well I felt events in Chapter 16 needed to be reworked--it just wasn't that clear.
4) No treatment of ADO.NET
5) No treatment of XML


Michael Keller
28 July, 2009

Excellent place to start with C#

I think this book is perfect for someone who is coming from another language, but wants to learn C#. The author covers all of the important concepts of the language in a sufficient amount of detail so that you'll get a sense of what the language offers. I wouldn't recommend this book for absolute beginner programmers though because some of the concepts might be hard to digest. But for moderately experienced developers who are newbies to C#, I think this book is excellent.

Paul Gehrman
17 July, 2009

Direct and concise material on C#

First of all, I'm very surprised on a few of the 3 stars reviews given because it definitely well deserves 5 stars.

If you do a quick skim of the book, you'll notice the unique format of teaching-- and honestly, the style is not for everyone. This is a fact that the author freely expresses on the back cover of the book. The book might not be for total beginners who doesn't have a background in object-oriented language. If you are trying to learn or transitioning to C# from a different language, and know the OO concepts, then this book is for you.

I fell in love with this book when I was in the bookstore and I know that I have to get it. My enthusiasm was based upon comparing the book with other materials in C#. The book is in its own class for multiple reasons and because of these reasons makes it a better choice among other books on the subject:

* Clarity - explains concepts very well using the combination of text and diagrams.
* Direct - in a few words of text, it gets to the point. It is not cluttered with repetitive materials or codes that only make things confusing. The author just gives enough code to make you understand it and cut out the 'fluff' that other book gives you.
* Not boring - Unlike a lot of technical books, each chapter is short and doesn't have any other extra stuff. With this type of approach, the book can be used as a reference as well since subjects are easy to find.

You can read multiple C# to get you started on the right track or just read this book. The book in essence is direct, concise, and teaches C# in-depth using minimal words and codes. Highly recommended.


Dennis Rongo
18 June, 2009

A good reference - Not a book from which to learn C#

The illustrations are very nice - they do help to understand the concepts presented. This book is definitely a good reference, it defines concepts pretty well.

But to actually learn C# from reading this book is a challenge, because most explanations are lacking. For example, why would I use a delegate? Or when would I use a struct instead of a class? Some of the examples are a little odd, and could have been designed with more meaning. In the example of Operator Overloading, the author's comment includes "In this strange class, negating a value just sets its value to 0". Why not create a less-"strange" and more meaningful example? Why would I bother to use Operator Overloading?

Why was there no coverage on dynamic arrays? Nothing from the List class?

The section on Assemblies is excellent, with very good explanations of security alternatives. Also excellent coverage of implementation considerations.

MickJam
09 June, 2009

The best computer language book ever written.

I have more computer language books on more languages and subjects than anyone except the library of congress and have been collecting and reading them since 1982. This is the best computer language book I have ever read. Most computer book authors are so knowledgeable, they cannot remember what it is like to begin at the beginning. Many things are such second nature to them that it does not occur to them to explain them. This book provides a clear explanation of every word, every concept, and every punctuation mark in every well chosen program used to illustrate his points. Clear cut distinctions between similar but not identical concepts. No question left unanswered and every question anticipated but nothing over explained and talked to death. Reading even a good computer book is often a struggle requiring fairly intense concentration but this one is a joy. It flows. If you want to learn C#, start here.



Sixty Year Film Fan
28 April, 2009

The pinnacle of programming books

I have read many programming language books (and written one myself (a Borland Delphi Troubleshooting Guide)); this one is by far the best I've come across. Perhaps that is partly because I may be a "visual" learner, I don't know - but this is definitely the one that flipped on the most lights for me.

Blackbird Crow Raven
17 April, 2009

Daniel Solis needs to write more like this

This is an excellent explanation of C#, exactly what I needed. If Mr.Solis writes another book I will buy it. His direct style and logically constructed book works for me.

Jim Stanicki
31 March, 2009

Excellent book to transition from C++

Having programmed a lot in C++, it was time to learn C#. This book is an excellent and efficient solution for the C++ programmer (and likely also the Java programmer) wishing to come up to speed in C#. Most of the concepts and much of the C# syntax are similar to C++.

Each C# concept is covered concisely and to the point - which means it is quick and easy for someone familiar with the general concepts to learn C# in a minimum of time.

I did encounter a few oddities - the concept of a delegate is easy once I realized it is basically a C++ pointer to a function - but with C# safe type checking place. But I had to look at Microsoft's own documentation to pick that up.

LINQ is a programmatic interface to databases - except none of the examples in the book use it to interface to a database. (For those who might be wondering about LINQ, the Language INtegerated Query is an SQL-like set of program statements for making SQL-like queries into data structures or databases. LINQ is not identical to SQL but close enough that SQL programmers will find this to be a straightforward introduction.)

Illustrated C# is an introduction to C# - this is not a Windows programming text - if you are headed in that direction, you'll also need good Windows/Windows Forms reference as well.

Overall, I was looking for a book to get me quickly from C++ to C# and this book is perfect to do that. I recommend this book to anyone with existing programming experience wishing to come up to speed quickly. If you have not programmed before, this is not your first book but probably your second or third.

E. Mitchell
20 March, 2009

Who is this book for?

This book is basically a review of the C# specification with (very) simple examples. If you are not an experienced object oriented programmer you are going to be completely lost in this book, as it does not cover any programming concepts. If you are experienced in another object oriented language, the book is mostly overkill. I did like the LINQ introduction, but I wish the author had shown how to use it with an actual database.

Ralph Moulton
18 March, 2009

Fantastic C# syntax presentation

For some years I was looking for such book. For some reasons (see below) I don't want to have a huge book, describing not only C# syntax, but also Visual Studio and BCL.

I'm not interesting in how to use VS, because I use Monodevelop. Therewith for me (after some years of Delphi programming) VS is intuitive measuring software. With respect to BCL, we have enough information on MSDN site.

The most important thing for me is understanding of C# syntax. In this case, Illustrated C# the one and only book, from what I saw.

Anton Simakov
01 December, 2008

Best book on C# for beginners !

I have many C# books and not much programming background. First of all, i have read "head first C#" half way through, "step by step visual C#" and also "pro C# 2008." I had difficulty following these books because they are dry on the material and at the same time don't present the material the way they should. What makes this books so special is that it has many example codes. For instance, chapter 6 has 14 example codes on classes and how they are used/accessed. I am half way through and it is amazing how much i have learned compared to other books. The book; however, doesn't go into GUI it basically doesn't deal with forms or WPF at all, all the programming is in the console. If you can only get one book on C# let this be it !

Hariz Beba
12 November, 2008

Excellent Coverage of C# 2008!!

Dan's book is an excellent way to reference C# and learn it also! Before I bought this book, I knew C# pretty well. I am on chapter 7 now and I know that after I finish the book I will really KNOW C# inside and out. This is one of those books that will be with me and will be dog eared after a few months due to going back to it and checking concepts. It is very easy to read and comprehend. One of the previous reviews mentioned that there were too many examples for simple concepts. I disagree completely with that review. If you have good examples that convey simple concepts, it will build a better base for when you start to get into more difficult concepts and will make understanding and learning them better. If you are a C# 2008 developer or learning C# 2008, this is a "must have" book on your bookshelf.

Keith S. Safford
15 October, 2008

Good, but could have been better...

This book could have been better if it covered even the basic database connection and data manipulation using ado.net, as well as XML. I know these two topics can well be covered by a separate book on their own, but I found some books which do cover these things while they try to teach the basic of C# programming. For one, try Jeffery Suddeth's book, nevermind the poor production (table of contents, index) but focus on straight-forward explanations and working examples which are simple and easy to understand, and you'll see what I mean.

The two stars missing are for:
- no coverage of XML and ADO.net basics.
- too much illustration even for the very basic syntax which tends to confuse...

Overall, this is better than "Learning C#" by Jessie Liberty...

Book worm
26 September, 2008

A very friendly and thorough reference

This is a reference that constructs ones understanding of C# one feature at a time in a one step at a time methodical manner. The liberal use of diagrams helped me visualise concepts more easily. I liked this approach when the author discussed delegates and events. Many books try to explain it but I was satisfied that I understood completely only after reading this book. e.g. I did not know that a delegate is actually a cillection of callbacks (not just one) before this. I also liked the friendly, usable and pallatable introduction to LINQ. Please note that this is a C# book and does not discuss dot net libraries. So you will have to buy another book for that.

It's good for someone new to C# (not necesarily new to programming) and also for more exerienced programmers who may keep coming back to it to really dissect language details - e.g how do I make best use of bit fields?

Happy Man
28 August, 2008

Best Computer Teaching & Learning Book available today

Dan Solis's Illustrated C# 2008 is a pleasure to read and from which to learn, both with concise information and the easy to understand illustrations in it.
The illustrations make this book unique in that they make relatively foreign concepts easy to understand. They are consistent, build one on another, and make sense. He takes the concept of the stack and the heap, explaining how temporary data is stored, right from the beginning. With each new data type, or type member, an illustration shows how it is different from the others, and therefore why that user defined type was developed.
I strongly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn the basics of a computer language, and especially C#, which is becomming the standard, as well as the language used my Microsoft in their program development.

What a delight!


John E. Van Kirk
04 August, 2008

What every C# programmer needs to know

This is the C# book that I always keep next to me. If I am unsure about some type of class, delegates, interfaces, etc. I open up this book and get right up to speed. While concise, Dan leaves nothing out in terms of details required for effective C# programming.

The LINQ coverage is outstanding! It is so good that I hope Dan does an entire book on the subject. His mastery of informative graphics would be an ideal format for help to save us T-SQL hacks from having to stand on our heads to get at LINQ.

I highly recommend this book.

Joseph Simon
23 May, 2008

You will not read a better book on C#

You will not read a better book on C#.

The first edition (2005) was great, this one is even better.

If you only get two books on C# then this should be one of them.

But, if you only buy one book... :) then get this one.

Sorry this review is short on content, but the other reviewer will bring you up to speed. (just the ones with 5 stars)

The 2008 version vs 2005 version

It includes a new chapter on asynchronous programming using delegates.
It includes a new chapter on the new LINQ features.

One small down side in the 2005 version (not sure about the 2008 version)

The author states that fields should begin with upper case letters and local variable begin with lower case. In 2005 chapter on Methods, the author makes the mistake of using upper case for local variables...

This may have been corrected in 2008 version.


Logical
13 May, 2008

Clear and well organized

I now have 4 books on C# and this is by far the best (at least for me). The material is well organized with consice, well thought out explanations. In addition, the figures add a great deal of to clarify the text. To me, this book was written to inform.

As I usually make numerous notes this book fits my needs very well with an ample amount of white space.

Thanks to Daniel Solis.

Reed A. Farrar
26 April, 2008

For refenence, not for learning C#

Suppose you knew nothing of automobiles and wanted to know how they worked. A book using this author's approach would first tell you about every kind of screw in the automobile, it's exact size, material, thread count per inch, and type. Chapter 2 would tell you about the nuts into which the screws would be placed. Even for an experienced programmer, this book will tell you all about the trees, but very little about the forest. Why three stars:
because it's an excellent reference text about the language, clear and thorough.

Richard Hughes
22 April, 2008

Excellent content and a quick read!

If you are like me, typically when I read a programming book or article, I feel compelled to download the code, and modify it slightly in order for the content to really "sink in". Remarkably, while reading this book, I rarely felt that to be necessary, as his code examples often fully "illustrated" the topic. The result was that I was able to read this book quickly, 2-3 chapters per sitting.

I feel coverage of the main C# topics was excellent, as well as the order they were presented. His chapters on delegates, interfaces, and LINQ were especially good, with very little wasted time delving into esoteric areas that might be interesting, but not very useful. The only negative feedback I would offer is that occasionally topics were addressed to a general programming newbie audience, but I just skimmed those.

In summary, my kudos to author Dan Solis, it's a terrific book!

Michael Baker
08 April, 2008

Quick and Easy!

I'm in complete accord with all the other 5-star opinions of this book. Studying it seems less like reading a book than listening to a series of finely honed lectures---complete with great white-board work. I would be surprised if there's a better introduction to C#. Besides lucidly defining technical terms as he goes, the author demonstrates exceptional skill in the use of text markups and simple graphics. My only knit pick would be on what I consider his scant coverage of Refection and Events. But even if these chapters were missing, it would still be worth $30 and 5-stars.

Hari Seldon
07 April, 2008

Visualized C# 3.0

Finally someone who knows how to explain C# visually. Simple clear drawings help you understand the whole proces of compiling and executing code.

If you think the "head first" books are over the top. You really should consider this "illustrated" version. In the "head first" books the graphices can be overwhelming while the illustrations in this book are just complementary to the text. I really love the "head first" books but I recommend them for learning something new but not as a reference book.

I have read other books covering the third version of C# and I must say this book really stands out. It starts at the basics but in the same way simple things are explained the more complex issues are covered. It all seems equally simple. To be able to write it down like that is a gift.

All in all highly recommended.

A. W. Alberts
19 March, 2008

I am so glad I purchased this book

This book is perfectly concise. It reminds me how important it is to understand the basics and subtleties of a language.

I am using this book to transition from VB. Even though VB and C# are now very similar, I am convinced that C# is a superior language. Even though this book doesn't target VB programmers specifically, it is very easy to follow.

John Carpenter
05 March, 2008