Book Review: Essential C# 2.0 [AW]

By Peter Bromberg
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Review of Mark Michaelis' newest book on the C# language from Addison Wesley's Dot-Net Series.

I already own several books on C# and the .Net Framework, but so far I like the Addison-Wesley series books best.

Just to give you a quick "flavor" of what this book holds in store, here is a condensed listing of the chapters:

  • Chapter 1: Introducing C#
  • Chapter 2: Data Types
  • Chapter 3: Operators and Control Flow
  • Chapter 4: Methods and Parameters
  • Chapter 5: Classes
  • Chapter 6: Inheritance
  • Chapter 7: Interfaces
  • Chapter 8: Value Types
  • Chapter 9: Well-Formed Types
  • Chapter 10: Exception Handling
  • Chapter 11: Generics
  • Chapter 12: Collections
  • Chapter 13: Delegates and Events
  • Chapter 14: Reflection and Attributes
  • Chapter 15: Multithreading
  • Chapter 16: Multithreading Patterns
  • Chapter 17: Platform Interoperability and Unsafe Code
  • Chapter 18: The Common Language Infrastructure
  • Appendix A: Downloading and Installing the C# Compiler and the CLI Platform
  • Appendix B: Complete Source Code Listings
  • Appendix C: C# 2.0 Topics

Michaelis  conducts a thorough, basic concise guide to C# - including the features new to C# 2.0.  The C# language is covered comprehensively and each important construct is illustrated with good "short but complete" code examples. More complete code examples are available online. Michaelis has organized the material for quick access. You have graphical “mind maps” at the beginning of each chapter that show what material is covered and how each topic relates to the whole.

Major topics covered include:

  • C# primitive data types, value types, reference types, type conversions, and arrays
  • Operators and control flow, loops, conditional logic, and sequential programming
  • Methods, parameters, exception handling, and structured programming
  • Classes, inheritance, structures, interfaces, and object-oriented programming
  • Well-formed types, operator overloading, namespaces, and garbage collection
  • Generics, collections, and iterators
  • Reflection, attributes, and declarative programming
  • Threading, synchronization, and multi-threaded patterns
  • Interoperability and unsafe code
  • The Common Language Infrastructure that underlies C#

This is a good programmer book - for beginners on up to the intermediate to advanced level, and it is organized in a way that won't frustrate you.  If you would like to get a better idea why I like this book, visit the AW site and see more, even download the source code if you like before purchasing the book.

This is 768pp, and $44.99 direct from the publisher. Seasoned online book buyers may be able to find this little treasure at significantly lower prices.
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