Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great Book.
Comment: Great book, one of the few I have read all the way through. Some of the concepts where not new to me. The ones that where are well explained. This would be a great companion book for anyone wanting to learn C# with almost no programming experience. For people with programming experience in other languages this book is all you need to get started.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: simple read
Comment: The book provides a gentle introduction to C#, in line with the other texts of this series. The pace of reading is mild, giving plenty of time to assimilate each new aspect of C#.
Along the way, you learn the essentials of object oriented programming. Using a language that is fully OO, unlike C++, and like java.
Perhaps there could have been [more] problems provided, to give the reader a challenge, and to really help her learn this stuff.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Please feel free to review the book.
Comment: Caveat: I'm one of the two authors of C# 2008 For Dummies (I did all of the 2005 and 2008 update work).
I invite reviews of C# 2008 For Dummies, regardless of your level of experience or background. For myself, I find reader reviews very helpful in deciding whether to buy a book.
C# 2008 For Dummies is aimed at beginning programmers, but it probably sells more copies to more experienced programmers, many of them looking to pick up a new language or break into .NET programming.
Beginners will find very simple, easy-to-follow examples, with chapters building up to more sophisticated techniques. Additionally, my Web site for the book includes many supplementary articles on topics I lacked room to cover in the pages. The site also includes all of the example code for the book (well over 100 small programs that focus on one thing at a time), 7 extra bonus chapters, and other resources.
More experienced hands will find pretty complete coverage of the C# language. Note that the emphasis is on the language, not on its many, many applications, such as Web programming, database programming, and so on. I discuss language features (some of which are very cool) in a context that is uncluttered with advanced features. (You can find more advanced features and techniques and applications such as Web coding in books from Wiley (the For Dummies folks) and other publishers as well as Web sites that offer many examples, articles, and lots of code. Try C# Station, C# Help, Code Project, CodeGuru.net, and more--Google for C#.)
New in the 2008 edition are old features not previously included, such as delegates, events, and collections. Also brand new features: Language Integrated Query (LINQ), lambda expressions, the var keyword, extension methods, array and collection initializers, anonymous classes, query syntax. Many topics have been extended or elaborated--the book is about 25% longer than the 2005 edition.
So please consider buying C# 2008 For Dummies if you're in one of its demographic categories. I don't think you'll regret it. And don't forget to check out the Web site at csharp102.info--it may help you decide whether to buy the book. And you can always contact me by email at sphars1@yahoo.com if you have questions, find errors, and so on.
I hope you enjoy reading C# 2008 For Dummies as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Best,
Chuck Sphar
Customer Rating:
Summary: Terrible - skips important functions, and no mid-ground
Comment: I bought this book hoping to learn from scratch - as one would assume you can normally do from a "For Dummies" book. I own 12 "For Dummies" books on various subjects, but this has by far been the most scattered in flow and difficult to process.
While the book exhausts you with lengthy dissertations on all of the possible variable types before you even get to write anything useful, it then completely leaves out the really useful information and techniques like how to write a program that can save text output into a separate file. There is no CD included, leaving you to have to go to the author's website and download all of the support files you'll need to cover your topics of interest. While I did find a "bonus" chapter on the author's website that covered creating programs that read from and write to text files, the code he published with it had errors and would not compile.
Finally, I say there is no "mid ground" because it seems he can only take you along at either 5mph or 200mph - there isn't much in-between. There is a lot of "we'll cover that later" (my quotes) but it doesn't get covered in time to help you understand what he's discussing just a few pages later.
BIG disappointment. I'm now looking for another tutorial source on C#.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Comment: I've read the 2005 version and this 2008 version and all I can say is these guys know their stuff. I've read many books on C# and this is the best book I've read. By programmers for programmers. Outstanding examples and explanations.
If you authors are reading this, please write more books. I'd like to request a dedicated book on OOP concepts and class design using C#.
Keep up the Great work!!!
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