| Overview
Do you want to learn C#? Programmers around the world have learned
that C# lets them design great-looking programs and build them
fast. With C#, you ve got a powerful programming language and a
valuable tool at your fingertips. And with the Visual Studio IDE,
you ll never have to spend hours writing obscure code just to get a
button working. C#, Visual Studio and .NET take care of the
grunt-work, and let you focus on the interesting parts of getting
your programs written. Sound appealing?
Unlike other C# books, which just show you examples and expect you
to just memorize them and move on, Head First C# gets you
writing code from the beginning. You're given the tools you need,
and then you're guided through fun and engaging programming
projects. You'll build programs to play a card game, explore a
house, and help lazy programmers manage their sick day excuses. But
it's not all fun and games: you'll build business applications too,
like a contact database and a program to help a party planner
estimate her dinner parties. You'll build a dungeon role-playing
game and a fully animated, colorful simulation of a beehive. And by
the end of the book, you'll build a fast-paced, full-featured retro
Invaders arcade game.
Make no mistake: by the time you're done with Head First
C#, you'll be able to build full-scale, complex, and highly
visual programs. And you'll have all of the C# tools you need to
tackle almost any programming problem that comes your way.
Head First C# is built for your brain, using the
revolutionary approach that was pioneered by the highly acclaimed
and popular Head First series. You'll never get that bored, "eyes
glazed over" feeling from Head First C#, because it guides
you through one challenging project after another until, by the end
of the book, you're a C# rock star!
Here's what you'll learn:
Core C# programming concepts How to use the Visual Studio 2008 IDE to build, debug and run
your programs Important .NET 3.5 features, including generic
collections, Windows forms, GDI+ graphics, streams, serialization
and more Using object oriented programming concepts to help you build
well-designed programs How to build robust applications with good error handling The latest C# 3.0 features, including LINQ, object and
collection initializers, automatic properties, extension methods
and more
Beginning programmers who want to learn programming from the
ground up More advanced programmers who are proficient in another
language (like Visual Basic, Java, SQL, FoxPro) and want to add C#
to their toolbox Programmers who understand basic C# syntax, but are still
looking to get a handle on how objects work Anyone who's tried to learn C#, but had to deal with books full
of dull examples and nothing but boring console applications Lots of people who just want to learn how to build cool
games!
Throughout the book, you'll confront and conquer advanced C#
concepts. Some of the most mysterious ideas are demystified and
explained with clear examples: how Unicode works, events and
delegates, references versus value types, the stack versus the
heap, what's really going on with garbage collection, and
more.
Thousands of readers have learned C# using this innovative book,
including:
Head First C# is built to work with any version of Visual Studio
2008, including the free express edition. (It can also can be used
with any version of Visual Studio 2005.)
Editorial ReviewsProduct DescriptionDo you want to learn C#? Programmers around the world have learned that C# lets them design great-looking programs and build them fast. With C#, you ve got a powerful programming language and a valuable tool at your fingertips. And with the Visual Studio IDE, you ll never have to spend hours writing obscure code just to get a button working. C#, Visual Studio and .NET take care of the grunt-work, and let you focus on the interesting parts of getting your programs written. Sound appealing? Unlike other C# books, which just show you examples and expect you to just memorize them and move on, Head First C# gets you writing code from the beginning. You're given the tools you need, and then you're guided through fun and engaging programming projects. You'll build programs to play a card game, explore a house, and help lazy programmers manage their sick day excuses. But it's not all fun and games: you'll build business applications too, like a contact database and a program to help a party planner estimate her dinner parties. You'll build a dungeon role-playing game and a fully animated, colorful simulation of a beehive. And by the end of the book, you'll build a fast-paced, full-featured retro Invaders arcade game. Make no mistake: by the time you're done with Head First C#, you'll be able to build full-scale, complex, and highly visual programs. And you'll have all of the C# tools you need to tackle almost any programming problem that comes your way. Head First C# is built for your brain, using the revolutionary approach that was pioneered by the highly acclaimed and popular Head First series. You'll never get that bored, "eyes glazed over" feeling from Head First C#, because it guides you through one challenging project after another until, by the end of the book, you're a C# rock star! Here's what you'll learn: - Core C# programming concepts
- How to use the Visual Studio 2008 IDE to build, debug and run your programs
- Important .NET 3.5 features, including generic collections, Windows forms, GDI+ graphics, streams, serialization and more
- Using object oriented programming concepts to help you build well-designed programs
- How to build robust applications with good error handling
- The latest C# 3.0 features, including LINQ, object and collection initializers, automatic properties, extension methods and more
Throughout the book, you'll confront and conquer advanced C# concepts. Some of the most mysterious ideas are demystified and explained with clear examples: how Unicode works, events and delegates, references versus value types, the stack versus the heap, what's really going on with garbage collection, and more. Thousands of readers have learned C# using this innovative book, including: - Beginning programmers who want to learn programming from the ground up
- More advanced programmers who are proficient in another language (like Visual Basic, Java, SQL, FoxPro) and want to add C# to their toolbox
- Programmers who understand basic C# syntax, but are still looking to get a handle on how objects work
- Anyone who's tried to learn C#, but had to deal with books full of dull examples and nothing but boring console applications
- Lots of people who just want to learn how to build cool games!
Head First C# is built to work with any version of Visual Studio 2008, including the free express edition. (It can also can be used with any version of Visual Studio 2005.) |
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Reader Reviews From Amazon (Ranked by 'Helpfulness') Average Customer Rating: based on 66 reviews. This book delivers what it promises, 2009-06-10 Reviewer rating: There are several reviews for this book that cite the poor editing of the first edition of this book. As I have found that the confirmed errata on the O'Reilly web site seems to be fixed in my copy, I can only assume I have the second edition.
This book isn't perfect; there are still some errors, BUT if you are really trying to learn C# and you've paid attention to what you've read in the book, the errors are not serious and you should be able to tell what was intended.
I suppose I should say that this book is just over 700 pages and I am currently on page 348. That means two things. First, I can't claim that there won't be problems with the text later in the book (but I doubt there will be), and two...
When I say I'm on page 348, I mean I've read every page preceding, followed every exercise and finished the first lab without 'cheating'. I haven't done that with a 'computer book' since Datamost published a guide to Applesoft Basic back in the early 1980's.
What do I really like about this book? Two main things. First, everything is explained, then repeated several times in plain language. If at first I don't understand, I only need to keep reading to have the explanation come at me again from a slightly different angle, and usually with a new code example or exercise. Second, I love (LOVE!) the labs. After learning and reinforcing several key bits of C#, you'll eventually reach a lab wher you are given the specs for a program. There are usually some details on what sort of approach you might take but otherwise you are on your own to use what you've learned to build the application. If you are serious about learning anything (including C#), nothing beats practice, practice, practice.
The forum for this book on the O'Reilly site is populated by helpful people who seem to be good at sharing information and helping clarify if and when you get stuck on something.
I would totally recommend this book, especially if you are a beginner. | This was the best book on C#, 2009-06-03 Reviewer rating: This was the best book on C# that I have got. It is really a practical step by step learning. So I give the highest rate to this book.
[...] | C# educational books, 2009-05-17 Reviewer rating: A book Head first is a great book for beginners in C# programming. It shows you on a simple way how to start coding. I was really surprised how easy is to learn some basics. But still, it is only for the beginning - for something more the additional books are needs AND most of all, a lot of time invested into practising.
But still, great book, as I said it is a great book got getting basic knowledge. | Lots of mistakes and a cumbersome book, 2009-03-02 Reviewer rating: I have read and learned from Head First books before, for example H F SOL. The SQL book was so good that when I decided to learn C# , my decision was already made: it had to be a Head first book.
However, the C# head first book is riddled with errata, the organization is poor . I did not like the tacky cartoons which are just a 'filler'.
The basics of Loops, Variables and conditionals are taught in a cursory manner.
All in all reading this book can be a hair pulling experience for a newbie.
May be the experienced reader C++ can benefit, but a newbie must stay away.
Instead, I subscribed to the http://www.learnvisualstudio.net and found a treasure trove. Something I can really use and learn.
M Khan | The next best thing to taking a programming class, 2009-02-06 Reviewer rating: If you're anything like me, you may have initially picked up this book or one of the other books in the Head First series, flipped it open, saw all the insets, pictures, and little pieces of clip art that make it look less like a book on programming and more like one of those "One Minute Manager" type tomes, and then quietly set it down and backed away. Here's the thing: you owe it to yourself to not do that. Buy this bad boy and use it!
Why does this book work? You remember a larger percentage of things when you take something that's written and then apply it directly to a project than just try to memorize it. If you've gone within 10 feet of a corporate entity in the last 15 years you've probably heard the mantra of "you learn x% by listening, x+10% by reciting, and x+30% by reciting while slapping an angry linebacker in the face" (that last one may have been made up). Even if you haven't, you can probably remember some dreary lecture-based class in college where you don't remember a darned thing and can compare and contrast with another class where you had to, say, write regular reports covering the subject matter. Most of the time, you're going to remember more from the second class than the first.
The other part of this is that for me at least when I read a big long book on a programming language I'll get a couple hundred pages in, get the idea that I know understand the language well enough to tinker around in it, and then discover that in fact I know nothing about it and need to re-read everything. Having the nearly constant programming, problem-solving, and even crossword puzzles at hand means you're constantly testing your knowledge, meaning in turn that if you don't get something you only have to backtrack 10 or 15 pages rather than half the book.
From what I gather, earlier editions of this book were not well edited, which is really too bad. This is too solid a format for learning to allow it to be dismissed because of sloppiness. All I can say is, it's better now. |
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