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
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.)
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Dissapointed by this book:
Worked through the first 250 pages and just had to start looking for something else. The idea of illustrations is good but the delivery is not. It's like creating a coloring book for brain surgery - not going to work. Interestingly I always had questions at parts where there was no pencil markup so I could not make sense of things. At page 250, the book is still working on explaining classes and objects. The examples are dry and uninteresting, Very hard to keep focus on them. I found a free ebook on... more info
SQL Express and Visual C# Exprees is a bad combination.:
The authors provide instructions in Chapter 1 on page 18 for adding a SQL Service-based Database to a project. I never could get pass this step. There was considerable discussion in the O Reilly forum on this topic as many others were having problems getting past this step. I tried all of the suggestions offered but none helped and was disappointed in the authors shotgun approach for providing a solution. Obviously from the number of recommendations many more people made it past page 18 than the people who... more info
Awesome series!:
This series of books allows for easy learning. Each chapter is laced with humor and fun projects. It really makes learning the topics really easy. It's not a 'reference' book, but is intended to teach you the subject in an easy-to-remember fashion.
Best C# book Ever.:
This is a great book that does not bog you down with technical terms and actually teaches you how to use C#. Instead of learning how write hello world on the command console you start of in chapter 1 making a full GUI program that actually does something. The best thing is it is actual easy to make!
