Inside C#

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Inside C#

C# isMicrosoft s first component-oriented language in the C/C++ family. It s amodern, simple object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. In brief,it s intended to be as productive as Visual Basic and as powerful as C++.

Buildingon his 18 years of industry experience as a C/C++ and J++ programmer, TomArcher guides the reader through a well laid out curriculum, covering theinformation a person might need to consider when learning a new language. Hetakes a bottom-up approach, starting in the first chapter with a very simpleprogram that shows how C# looks on paper.

Part 2deals with the fundamentals of C# syntax. The roughly 126 pages includesections on the C# type system, classes, methods, properties, arrays, attributes,and interfaces. Having introduced the reader to the fundamentals of C#, Archerproceeds to illustrate their proper use when writing code, covering such topicsas operator assignment, flow control, error handling using exceptions, operatoroverloading, and event handlers.

If yourprogramming background includes Java or C/C++, I imagine adapting to C# will bea breeze. Not so for Visual Basic programmers; it ll be something of a stretch.To be certain, many VB programmers will attempt to switch to C#, a testament tothe appeal and relative simplicity of the language. However, most will bebetter served working in Visual Basic .NET before switching to C#.

The lastsection of Inside C# deals with such advanced topics as multi-threading,reflection, interoperating with unmanaged code, and working with assemblies. Iwould imagine that interoperating with unmanaged code may be the mostinteresting aspect to many of us. Unmanaged code is a term used to describeanything that has been created outside the .NET Framework, which of coursemeans all COM components. As Archer illustrates through the use of a small COMsample, the designers of .NET have made provisions for a .NET application tocall COM objects (and vice versa). I wish there would have been a little bitmore discussion in this section; at the same time this book may not be theappropriate place for it, because the interoperability with COM objects issomething the Framework is responsible for, not C# the language.

Ifyou re interested in a good basic book that takes you through the fundamentalsof C# syntax, Inside C# is worth your consideration. Please keep in mindthat the language hasn t been available long enough for anyone to write booksthat include many real-life application examples. Most publications on themarket right now deal more or less with the syntax and basics of this newlanguage. Tom Archer does a good job of taking the reader through a veryreadable curriculum.

ThomasWagner

Inside C# by Tom Archer, Microsoft Press, http://www.microsoft.com/mspress.

Rating:

ISBN:0-7356-1288-9

CoverPrice: $49.99

(403Pages)