Learning C# 2

[squirtle23]

Hi All,

I would like to learn C# on my own but currently I am confused on C# in general. I am new to microsoft products and .net framework also.

I have experience programming in java but would like to seek a career as a C# developer.

I have this question in my mind, hope someone can enlighten me.

1. What book(s) should I buy so that I could learn C#? I generally learn from books so I prefer if it would be a tutorial type for the beginners.

2. In microsoft product does C# the same with visual c#?

3. Also, I am seeing lots of online references that talks about C# in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008. Are they relatively the same with some improvements?

Sorry, If my question might be vague but hope someone can give an explanation to my question. =)

 

[jmeckley]

I would say there are not too many differences between C# and java. C# has properties, but this is really syntax sugar around methods example

class Foo
{
   public string Bar {get;set;}
}

translates to

class Foo
{
   public string get_Bar() {return bar;}
   public void set_Bar(string value) {bar = value;}
}

java: all members are virtual by default (overrideable)
c#: all members sealed by default.

.net also has the concept of generics. So you can have strongly typed collections and functions instead of returning object and casting.

books:
C# via CLR. this is everything you could ever imagine about the c# language. This has information about why c# works the way it do

Blogs:
lostechies.com
codebetter.com
ayende.com
jpboodhoo.com

alot of the java frameworks have been ported to the .net framework. And most of these frameworks are written in c#, so they can also be a good learning resource.

visual C# just means that MS made some pretty GUI wizards to write code for you... don't use them as they are very limiting and don't give you any understanding of how the language actually works.

VS05 vs VS08:
VS05 uses the .net 2.0 framework by default.
VS08 uses the .net 3.5 framework by default.
Some elements of 3.5 can be used in 2.0 through addons (Presentation and Communications framework WPF, WCF) and/or hacks (extension methods).

I would bypass VS05 and jump straight to VS08.

Jason Meckley
Programmer
Specialty Bakers, Inc.