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What C# book for a total beginner?

Asked by dtytfyiutiufg,

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dtytfyiutiufg

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Hi all,

I want to learn how to program in C#, primarily for client applications but possibly some web stuff later down the line. I like the look of C#, the code I have read online appears quite clean and not overly verbose. I have a Visual Studio 2008 license from DreamSpark and three books which I have had sitting in a cupboard for a while (as I originally wanted to do this a couple of years ago but did not have the time)

The books are

  • Beginning Visual C# 2008 (Watson, Nagel, Pedersen, Reid, Skinner and White) by Wrox
  • Beginning C# 3.0 An Introduction to Object Oriented Programming (Purdum) by Wrox
  • Head First C# (Stellman and Green) O'Reilly (note in the top corner of the cover says "Covers C# 3.0 and Visual Studio 2009")

I have had a look at the reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and all the books seem ok but I was wondering if anybody here has had experience with any of them and what their opinions are? Not that I don't trust the reviews I have read but most of them seem to be written while the person is still in the half of the book so not a review of the whole material.

Also are there any other books that you may think are more suitable?

A little background on me... I have had exposure to C, C++, Java and VBScript for about 10 years but nothing more than basic tutorials. I would say I know the (very) basics of programming i.e. different datatypes, looping, and some OOP knowledge) but I am pretty much a total beginner.

Many years ago I wrote a couple of command line utilities in C and Java to automate a few tasks but I think it is safe to say that knowledge is in a place my mind cannot access any longer :)

Your input is greatly appreciated.

M

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Andre S. Veteran

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This is the best book I've seen to learn C# from scratch, and it's free: The C# Yellow Book. It's fun and it makes you understand. I cannot give greater praise than that to any technical book.

A very complete and systematic presentation of C# (not so much for beginners): C# in a Nutshell (The C# 5.0 edition is already in the works!)

If you're looking for more up-to-date versions of Visual Studio, I suggest downloading the latest Visual C# Express (it's free): currently it's 2010 and 2012 is available in Beta.

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