Hi
I am just starting off with programming and would like some guidance on books.
I was originally looking at c++ but I am now edging more towards c#. I like the SAMS series of books (thats beginner level for me) but of course they are all 2005 based.
Should I go ahead an acquire a 2005 based book even if I am going to learn on 2008? I don't see much point in learning on a older system given that 2008 is coming out.
Alfo
Hello,
Books on 2008 (C# 3.0) aren't really going to be avaiable until Feburary. There are a number of books out on linq at the moment which you can purchase but these aren't going to be much good if your a beginner.
The language changes between C# 2.0 and C#3.0 are not huge and the core concepts and the actual framework stucture are the same so it won't be wasted learning. Plus the quality for book for C# 2.0 is very good and you have a good range on the market.
There are a lot of good books on the market for C#.
My first C# book was:
Programming C#: Building .NET Applications with C# by Jesse Liberty
I've heard very good things about this book but not read it myself.
Practical .Net2 and C#2: Harness the Platform, the Language, the Framework by Patrick Smacchia
Not heard much about this but you might find it useful
Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft)) by John Sharp
So, get a 2005 book, read that and then read everything on the blogs to get you up to speed on 2008.
Hope this helps.
Ben
I'll echo Ben's advice - I would recommend starting with C# 2.0. The newer, more advanced features in C# 3.0 build on top of very powerful features in 2.0 like Generics, Nullable, Anonymous Delegates, Iterators, etc. The more you know about those things, the better position you'll be in to understand C# 3.0 when the time comes.
If you'd really like to jump into C# 3.0 now, there are a lot of materials available but they aren't necessarily as accessible as your average book. Charlie Calvert, the C# community program manager, links to a wealth of these resources (formal specs, whitepapers, video interviews, other blogs, etc.) on his blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/charlie/
Hope this helps!
Scott Nonnenberg
This book covers both C# 2.0 and C# 3.0, as well as LINQ and the core .NET Framework.
Joe Albahari
(Author)
