Anyone recommend a good C# book?

[bgowland]

I'm looking at the Comics source and it's mostly making sense (possibly enough to try a 'Hello World' plug-in later   ). But...

With developing GB-PVR plug-ins in mind using Visual Studio .NET can anyone recommend a good book.

Something that gives a basic introduction to the concepts but doesn't hold back on technical detail/references. I've programmed quite a few languages over the years but I've never written a line of C#.

Cheers,
Brian

[KingArgyle]

Ever write any Java code before? Then you shouldn't have too many problems picking it up. You aren't limited to using C# you can also use VB.NET if you are more familiar with Visual Basic.

[jorm]

I also have mostly a java background. I was writing plugins within a day or two of installing the .net compiler. An easy transition.

[bgowland]

Quote[/b] (KingArgyle @ Jan. 02 2005,18:13)]Ever write any Java code before?  Then you shouldn't have too many problems picking it up.  You aren't limited to using C# you can also use VB.NET if you are more familiar with Visual Basic.

Never written any Java from scratch although I've tweaked a few bits of source code in the past. From what I've gathered from the Comics C# source I can see the Java similarity. I used to use a lot of raw C with some C++ thrown in so it isn't looking too unfamiliar.

The past couple of years I've mostly been using VB6 with ADO for LDAP/SQL/Excel stuff but, even then, I find VB.NET has a few new angles on things that I need to get my head round. I think I'll try the C# route just for fun.

Oh boy, do I need to get a life!  

[KingArgyle]

Welcome, to the club.

[reven]

you could try the java tutorial, they are really good. sure its java not C#, but C# is so close to java theres an java importer in visual studio to convert java to C#.

microsoft must have been to lazy to write a full language of their own so they ripped of sun, its what they do

oh and the msdn library is really useful (once you get the hang of it, the java api is way better however), theres lots of sample code in it (its like 3 cds, huge).

[colin]

I would suggest looking for some good tutorials on OO design and coding. That tends to be the hardest bit to get your head around, then the language just falls into place after that.


Colin.

[jasonf]

Quote[/b] (reven @ Jan. 02 2005,22:46)]microsoft must have been to lazy to write a full language of their own so they ripped of sun, its what they do

They did write a language of their own.... BASIC (ok, so Paul and Bill didn't really invent it, but they are certainly responsible for it's popularity, and definitely for Visual Basic).

I always say that C# is Java the way Microsoft wanted it to be (to be friendly to their environment, nonetheless).  Remember that MS started down that path with Java itself, and then Sun sued them (and then coincidentally, the Tech Bubble burst at the same time).  A few silent years later, and they released the strangely familiar language C#.

Oh, and as far as books, I cut my C# teeth on books from Wrox Press. If you're struggling with concepts, the "For Dummies" series is good, despite the unfortunate title. The books by Microsoft Press are good reference/how-to's once you have the basics under your belt.

[yankees]

I would agree that in general the WROX books are some of the best. I do find that sometimes the books can appear a bit padded, and labour the point a bit. But in general I'd recommend the Beginning C# from Wrox. For more advance stuff or reference, go O'Rielly - their cookbooks are the best you can find (but not for a starter!

If you have programming experience then C# is as easy to pick up as any other language. The real difference is the OO approach. I've worked with various developers over the years who still "don't get it" and write procedurally in an OO language. In fact beleive it or not, where I work it's almost required to work procedurally (mind you, this is a company that threw our UML for modelling and invented it's own system!. The beginning C# book does a really good job of introducing C# in the context of OO and covers off all the important stuff.

Of course the best resource for developers of C# is Code Project and Google

[bgowland]

Thanks for all the suggestions folks.

I don't think I've ever used any Wrox books but I'll take a look. I was certainly going to check out O'Reilly as their ADO reference is probably the most dog-eared book in my collection. Come to think of it I think I have one of their's on Java (probably in a Nutshell) in my office which I'll dig out when I get back to work tomorrow.

Cheers,
Brian