This book is for anyone who wants to write good C# code—even if you have never programmed before. Writing good code can be a challenge—there are so many options, especially in a .NET language like C#. If you want to really get the best from a programming language, you need to know which features work best in which situations and understand their strengths and weaknesses. It is this understanding that makes the difference between coding and coding well.

Beginning C# 2008: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition has been written to teach you how to use the C# programming language to solve problems. From the earliest chapters, and from the first introductory concepts, you'll be looking at real-world programming challenges and learning how C# can be used to overcome them. As you progress through the book, the problems become more involved and interesting, while the solutions become correspondingly more complex and powerful as C# features interact to achieve the results that you want.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 12 Ratings

Confusing and frustrating. Do yourself a favor and find another book. - 2009-04-11
Reviewer Rating:
I almost always read reviews on any book I consider buying, but for whatever reason, I bought this one without reading up on it first. I was at Barnes and Noble, and I really wanted to leave with a book on C#, and the first chapter seemed pretty good, so I went for it.

I'll just get it all out on the table and say that this is the worst instructional book I have ever read. As others have said, he uses constant analogies to try to make things eaiser to understand, but they really just make you even more confused. Also, considering the use of the word "beginning" in the title, you would think this book would be aimed at beginners, and it is not. Frankly, I don't think it's aimed at anybody. It's just an awful book, and you'll find yourself reading chapters numerous times before you understand anything.

I have switched over to APress's "Pro C# 2008 and the .NET Platform", and it is a MUCH better text. Ironically, it covers the basics a lot more in depth than this book does, too. Bottom line: don't even bother with this garbage. I may try to go back after I have a better understanding of C# and reread this book (since I already paid $40 for it...), but I wouldn't lose any sleep tonight if I accidentally set the book on fire after dinner. Accidentally.

The most confusing C# book ever! - 2009-08-29
Reviewer Rating:
I will have to agree with the majority of the reviews that this is not a very good book. I have read a couple of other books on C# that I learned a lot from. I am trying to get my hands on as much C# material as I can; I get a little something more out of each book. Now, when I started reading this book (before I read any of these reviews), I began thinking that if I didn't have any previous knowledge of C#, I would really have no idea what this guy was talking about! There is no way that this book is for beginners! It is very, very confusing. I do, however, feel that there are some good concepts in this book, but they are just laid out in a very confusing manner. Sometimes I have to read the same thing 10 times, only to semi-understand it! I was a bit relieved when I read these other reviews just so I knew I wasn't losing my mind! The author might be a good programmer, but he needs to polish up on this writing skills! Sorry!

No exaples how to put it in to work - 2009-10-15
Reviewer Rating:
I have to say it is hard to imagine how to get most of the codes mentioned in this book to work. For example Calculator (The beginning of the book). This is Dll file of Calculator operations:
namespace Calculator
{
public class CalculatorClass
{
public static int Add(int number1, int number2)
{

return number1 + number2;
}
}
}

And then it shows how to test application with Non user inputed numbers.
OK, but how do we make it work in real life when we need to use users numbers rather than numbers we selected. No word about it. In console applications brackets it won't accept Number1 and number2 directly,(I couldnt not figure it out)So the way I did it, is:


namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Adding two numbers");

Console.Write("Please enter 1st number: ");
string SNum1 = Console.ReadLine();

Console.Write("Please enter 2nd number: ");
string SNum2 = Console.ReadLine();

int num1 = int.Parse(SNum1);
int num2 = int.Parse(SNum2);

int total = Calculator.CalculatorClass.Add(num1, num2);


Console.WriteLine("Total is: " +total);
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}
It's working, but is this the way it meant to be? Maybe I am just to stupid for this book.

On behalf of Balagopalan Dharmarajan - 2009-08-03
Reviewer Rating:
Beginning C# 2008 From Novice to Professional by Christian Gross is a good choice to learn C# for any programmer with no or less .NET background. The way the book is organized is excellent and the very good part is, it has lot of samples with description. This book gives a diligent exposure to Types, Exception handling, OOP basics, .NET generics and Multi threading.My personal opinion on the harder part of this book is, the analogies used, which are confusing and sometimes I have to read it twice or thrice to understand the idea behind the analogy.

Overall, it's a good book for any beginner in C#.

Unnecessarily confusing - 2009-07-12
Reviewer Rating:
Originally I actually found some of the analogies quite useful which led me to persevere with the rest of the book. But it really wasn't worth it. After reading about delegates elsewhere & having an ok understanding of them I could not believe the way this author introduced them. He dives straight into complex examples without properly introducing the topic. Some of the language used in the book is really confusing, and concepts are explained badly. No way is this book for beginners, I cannot imagine someone would understand any of this book without a prior understanding of programming.

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