Beginning Visual C# 2005 Express Edition: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: from Novice to Professional)

by Peter Wright

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Editorial Reviews
Product Description

In the 90s, Microsoft did the impossible and released a programming tool that let everyone write programs to run on Windows. I was so excited about that tool, Visual Basic, that I wrote a series of books on it and introduced nearly a quarter of a million people all over the world to programming.

Now Microsoft has done it again with the release of the Express tools. With nearly every home now having a computer and most people having access to the Internet, being able to take control of the computer and write your own programs is more useful and exciting than ever. So I decided to do it again.

In this book you’ll find everything you need to program your computer by using Visual C# 2005 Express, one of the very latest programming tools from Microsoft. If you have never written computer programs before, I’ll show you how much fun and how easy it can be. Perhaps you are a programmer and just need to get up to speed on .NET for work—this book is for you too.

I took the same approach with this book that I did with the VB ones, and inside you’ll find a fast–paced guide to the essentials to get you programming fast. You’ll learn the C# language and the tools Visual C# 2005 Express provides. I cover everything from simple console programs to code that talks to the Internet, and even how to write your own database programs. Whatever your reasons for wanting to learn to program with C#, my book will get you where you want to be quickly, and hopefully with a smile on your face. So dive in and change the way you use computers forever.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 4 out of 5 stars

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3 out of 5 stars

A mighty blunder, 2007-08-05
One thing that was striking about this book is the author's definition of polymorphism. He says that Polymorphism is the ability to create many methods in a class with the same name but with different signatures. In my my knowledge, that concept is called method overloading. Polymorphism is the ability to call the same method on objects from different classes that inherit from the same superclass or interface.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars

Beginning Visual C# 2005 Expresss, 2007-01-02
Being a programmer for many years, this is one of the good books, which I would recommend a novice programmer to start of with. I also see it as a C# transition platform for C/C++ programmers.

I like Peter Wright's "down to earth" and personal approach guiding the readers.

A good book to have for beginners and intermediates.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars

Solid tutorial on the C# language using Express IDE..., 2006-10-10
With the advent of the "Express" addition of Microsoft's Visual Studio tools, it doesn't take a small fortune to start learning their environment. In fact, it doesn't cost you a dime. They're free. Peter Wright takes advantage of that fact in his book Beginning Visual C# 2005 Express Edition: From Novice to Professional. It's a good book, but I think I would have titled it somewhat differently...

Contents: Welcome to C# Express; The Basics of C#; Working with Variables; Classes and Object Orientation in C#; More-Advanced Object Orientation; Handling Exceptions; How C# Express Helps You Code; Building Windows Applications; Windows and Dialogs; Lists; Menus and Toolbars; Delegates - Events Internals; Lists and Generics; Files and Streams; Working with XML; Database Programming; The Internet and C# Express; Threading; Where to Now?; Index

You can pretty much view this as a tutorial to the C# language... how it's structured, how it works, and what you can do with it. The "Express Edition" part comes into play in terms of what IDE he uses to teach you the language... Visual C# 2005 Express Edition. Being that you can download it free from Microsoft (it's even on the CD included in the book), you don't have to plunk down a wad of cash to get into the game. In fact, the Express Edition of the software does most of what you'd need for personal projects and programs. I wouldn't want to try and run an IT department on it, as the features for the "real" version of Visual Studio address that market. But Wright uses this great option to get you familiar with the world of .NET and C# in particular. There are plenty of screen shots and code examples to work from, so there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to ground yourself in the fundamentals here.

In the opening, I mentioned that I thought I would have tried a different title. The one that was used makes the book sound as if it's a tutorial on how to use Visual C# 2005 Express Edition as your IDE. Instead, it's really how to program in C# using the Express Edition IDE. It may sound like a minor point, but it might throw a few buyers. If I already knew C# and wanted a book on the IDE, the title here would lead me in the wrong direction...

Even with that minor quibble, it's still a good approach to start down the C# path if that's where your programming interests are leading you...

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars

Enough to get you started, 2006-08-15
This is a book that introduces you to the C# language using Microsoft's Visual C# Express Edition (which is now free to download).

Things I liked:
- Author's style of writing is on the casual side and it is engaging.
- The range of topics covered is especially chosen to give you a good idea of what you can acheive with VC# Express Edition. So, not only are the basics of C# covered, but you also get coverage on how to use Windows Forms, databases/ADO.NET, Wev Services and XML in VC# Express Edition.
- Aside from Chapter 7 (see below), I didn't find too many typos in the book.

Stuff I wasn't so thrilled about:
- Chapter 7, "How C# Express Helps You Code" is based off of the beta edition of C# Express. A lot of the keyboard shortcuts, along with a few other items, are not the same in release version, thus taking away some of the usefulness of this chapter.
- Not a good choice for those new to programming. Despite its claims, this book is best for someone who's programmed before.
- Don't expect to go "From Novice to Professional". If you're a novice, you'll still be one even after reading this book. It's short intro. book after all.
- A few of the chapters covering more complicated topics, could use a few more examples to expound on the key points and drive them home.
- The summaries of chapters are not very good at highlighting key points. While this is not so important when you're reading through a chapter, it's very important when you're going back to review a chapter. A tabular summary of key points and mini code examples would be much more useful. Even review questions would be helpful.

Bottom Line:
A good book if you're a programmer who's new to ASP.NET or C# and wants to have some fun with MS Visual C# Express Edition.

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