 When I began to learn the C# language,
late in the summer of 2000, the first edition of Eric
Gunnerson’s
A Programmer’s Introduction to C# was my principal
guide. C# was still in beta at the time and I was trying
to grapple with a new language and a new class library
(.NET) with only Microsoft’s unfinished documentation
to assist me. Gunnerson’s book was invaluable.
It quickly pointed out all the stuff I already knew
(where C# resembles C and where it is closer to Java)
and guided me through the essential details of the
stuff I didn’t
know (the .NET runtime environment, CLR, namespaces
and so on).
Even though the book is largely targeted at newcomers
to C# and .NET, there are still occasions to this day
when I find myself flipping through it in search of some
piece of information. The fact of the matter is that
the book is straightforward and to-the-point. Over the
past few years I’ve acquired quite a library of
1000 page-plus doorstop tomes which either contain less
useful information than Gunnerson’s book or else
hide it in the middle of verbose padding.
The latest update to A Programmer’s Introduction
To C# (now in its third edition), retains most of the
text of the first edition but this has been supplemented
by additions (largely written by Gunnerson’s new
co-author, Nick Wienholt) to explain the novel features
of C# 2.0 - notably generics (the .NET version of ‘templates’ or ‘parametized
types’) which enable you to create classes and
methods that can operate on multiple data types; and
associated features such as user-defined iterators to
let you handle lists of generic classes within a foreach loop.
This book has clearly grown somewhat in the telling.
It now has about 525 pages compared to just 350 in the
original edition. Even so, unlike many flabbier programming
books, this is light on the stuffing and heavy on the
meat. If you are moving to C# from some other language,
A Programmer’s Introduction To C# 2.0 is probably
the best book to get you up and running as speedily as
possible.
You can buy
this book at a discount from Computer Manuals
(UK).
Huw Collingbourne
September 2005
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