Having been out of the programming world for eight years I though that I would never be able to get back into this world as the pace of technology, tools and languages changes so rapidly, however after reading Beginning C# 2008 From Novice to Professional my outlook on this has changed. Even though I have always kept up in terms of what was going on I became less and less aware on how it was done. I always felt that the task was just too big.
Looking at this book you might be forgiven in thinking, how can you read through this monstrous book of over 500 pages, and for me I still have not read it all in detail. I have however used the book to focus on getting started and it has definitely without a doubt help me do just that. I didn't know where to start. Now I have more confidence and I am beginning to delve more an more into the details of C# and the Microsoft .NET platform.
One thing about technical books, they typically fall into the category of reference books, books that have rehash online manuals, and other with just examples. This book was different it explained everything that I needed to know step-by-step and with each step clear examples. It is clearly written, easy to follow and most of all not some reference book that didn't teach you how to apply the information provided. In saying that, this book is an excellent reference in getting up to speed on specific C# constructs etc.
For me as a Novice wanting to learn what there is about C# and .NET I didn't want to fork out all the money for the tools for something that I might not actually intend going through with. The book assumes that you are using the free version of .NET (Visual Studio C# Express Edition) which is great. Too many books make the assumption that you are already a programmer or if not still have access to the full tools.
The examples were very easy to follow, simple and clear steps (that you can skip over if you are familiar with those areas already) and the illustrations clearly annotated. At the end of each chapter it gives you some point to remember and some additional activities. I strongly recommend that you do the extra activities by trying to answer the questions. This helps cement your knowledge and understanding of a given topic.
The chapters are organised to follow in sequence building upon one another. As you work through the chapters you level of understanding increases by focusing on the 'essentials' and 'fundamentals' without distracting the reader with lots of fluff or very tecky stuff.
This book achieves what it sets out to do, that is, bring someone with no skills and knowledge in C# and bring them to a point where they can create a well structured application in Microsoft .NET. Anyone can learn new techniques on the job, but in my opinion learning the fundamentals is more important. You can always build upon sound fundamentals and principles.
I think this book is excellent for a student starting out in programming, someone want to tinker with these tools or a person wanting to make a career out of programming. This book will give you all this and more. On the negative side I would have liked to see more about best practices in writing 'secure' code or possible touching on some 'professional' best practices like unit testing using JUNIT, or as a minimum touch on these topics to get the reader interested in these areas. The chapter about Multithreading was particularly interesting as it started to introduce the concept of 'design patterns' and in this day and age of multi-core CPUs this information can be very helpful.
Overall this book is excellent, it is an engaging read and very informative. I didn't get bored with the material. Most of my reading was at night after work and my goal was to get through 1-2 chapters a week. I would highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn C# and working with Microsoft .NET tools.
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Stephanus Mueller
Eben doch nicht für Einsteiger geeignet
Reviewed in Germany on April 26, 2010