Sebastopol, CA--For more than a year, Microsoft has heavily promoted C# (pronounced C-sharp) as a language that embraces many of the best features of each of the Visual C++, Visual Basic, and Visual J++ languages and development environments. Created with web services and applications in mind, C# was designed to combine the rapid development benefits of Visual Basic with the power and control of C and C++. "C# Essentials, Second Edition" by Ben Albahari, Peter Drayton & Brad Merrill (O'Reilly, US $24.95) provides a succinct but thorough overview of the language to help programmers quickly grasp the fundamentals of C# programming.
Coauthor Albahari describes C# as an elegant and practical language designed to give an optimal blend of simplicity, expressiveness, and performance. "It's similar to what Java would be if Java people were allowed to forget about backward compatibility and just work on making the language better," he says.
The new edition of C# Essentials has been updated to cover the final release of the C# language. Its efficient presentation of key concepts serves as a roadmap to the online documentation for the language, while the many examples included in the book provide much needed context for would-be C# programmers. In addition to overviews of C#, the Common Language Runtime (CLR), and the .NET Framework Class Libraries (FCL), this new edition of C# Essentials covers:
-Every C# language element and its syntax, in reference format, including new keywords -The major C# datatypes, with code examples -Common C# programming tasks -Interoperation with legacy Win32 APIs and COM components, and the use of C/C++ style pointers within the managed context of the CLR -Common development issues
"This is a small, densely packed book," Albahari says. "We wanted to write a book that would give people a nucleus of knowledge from which they can explore more specifically, whether from other books or the Web. C# Essentials contains the core stuff that everyone should know."
C# Essentials is written for developers who are already familiar with an object-oriented language such as C++, Java, or Delphi. This book will help experienced programmers get up to speed quickly on the language best suited to developing web applications and services on the new Microsoft .NET platform.
"C# Essentials is the first book to be published on the language that is more than a rushed out volume that contains little more than a list of syntax definitions that you could learn just as easily from the supplied documentation. C# Essentials is currently the best book available on the subject and ideally suited to the existing Java, C++ or Visual Basic programmer."--vsj.net: The Independent Source for .NET Developers
Online Resources:
Chapter 1, "Introduction" is available free online
More information about the book, including table of contents, index, author bios, and samples
C#
Essentials
by Ben Albahari, Peter Drayton & Brad Merrill
Second Edition, January 2002
ISBN 0-596-00315-3, 202 pages, $24.95 (US), $37.95 (CAN)
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