Programming in the Key of C#: A Primer for Aspiring Programmers: A Primer for Aspiring Programmers

by Charles Petzold

Book Overview

Learning to program is like learning a musical instrument. It takes dedication, lots of practice, and a great teacher. This primer-created by award-winning author Charles Petzold-focuses on the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0735618003
• ISBN13: 9780735618008
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Microsoft Press
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.6" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A fantastic introduction to C#

This is a great book for a beginning programmer trying to learn the fundamentals of C#. Every chapter is devoted to a key feature of the language (as opposed to discussing all data types in one chapter, for example) and Mr. Petzold's teaching style is wonderfully accessable without at all being too simple. I read this book as my first attempt at learning C#, and it provided such a solid foundation that now I am much more comfortable reading other books and documents that deal with more advanced topics and that take a lot of the basics for granted. Petzold takes the time to explain everything, and in the process you'll also learn a great deal about computers in general, as well as programming with C#.

Definitely not for the advanced programmer

For those who rated this down because it was for beginners, I would suggest re-reading the subtitle. It is clear this book is for the beginning programmer. As someone who had barely enough programming experience to be able to confidently do much that was more complex than "Hello, World" in C#, I found this book an excellent primer on programming. It clearly explains things that I've found other books have a tough time doing (I went through the Murach's C# book in parallel, which I also found very good compared to other books I tried). It just needs to be rated for what it is: a book for people who may not have any programming experience that does a great job in introducing the necessary concepts. For more in depth C# knowledge, a friend at Microsoft recommended Inside C# 2nd Edition. Perhaps that's the book some of the reviewers were looking for?

"A Primer for Aspiring Programmers"

Charles Petzold does an excellent job of introducing C#, the latest OOP from Microsoft. The book is not for an advanced programmer - you would be disappointed if you thought this was a 300 level book, but it does say it right in the name. What this book does that C# Step by Step does not do is it explains, very clearly, why you are doing what you are doing. It doesn't get bogged down in step 14 of 30. Petzold patiently explains what placeholders are in Console.Writeline() and why they're so useful. He carefully takes you from something you know to something you wish you knew and then explains the how's and why's of everything. His style is almost as if he were talking to you. He uses phrases like "Check this out" to make the reading livelier. I can almost feel his enthusiasm for C# coming off the pages. If you know C, C++, Java or maybe even Visual Basic this book may be too basic for your needs. But if you're interested in learning C# as a first language this is a great book.

Excellent Book For What It Is

Looking for an introduction to C#, I read the reviews here and decided to purchase this book. Unlike a couple of other reviewers here, I already own a DICTIONARY, and so I am aware of what the words PRIMER and ASPIRING mean. Those looking for a book about programming .NET should buy a book titled something like, "Programming .NET." Those looking for a book about using Visual Studio.NET should buy a book titled something like, "Using Visual Studio.NET." A book titled, "Programming In The Key Of C# - A Primer For Aspiring Programmers" should present a primer for aspiring programmers. Gee, go figure.Through the years, I have programmed in C, Pascal, Fortran, Cobol, Visual Basic, Delphi, various scripting languages in both the Unix and Windows worlds, Cold Fusion, PHP, and Active Server Pages. I wanted to learn C# from the lowest level and move upward from there so I would have a complete understanding of the language as I move towards my final goal of programming Windows and ASP.NET using C#. Having reviewed the TABLE OF CONTENTS made available here, it was easy to tell that this book would be the primer I was looking for. A previous reviewer claims that this book didn't teach him enough about C# syntax. The syntax in C#, although similar to most other object-oriented languages, is unique to C#. This whole book teaches C# syntax, and also goes into a fair amount of detail of how structures, objects, classes, etc. are handled internally in the computer, and by the C# compiler. I know there is another book written by Anders Hejlsberg which is a most complete coverage of the C# syntax, and I will probably end up buying that book as well to use as a reference. To begin learning C#, however, I wanted to begin in a very comfortable and basic place. I have finished this book, I have purchased and am reading a book on programming Windows with C#, and when I am finished with that book, I will buy a new book that is more specific to programming ASP.NET. I will probably buy books specific to ADO.NET, and who knows what else as I become aware of new complexities that I would like to understand.As a book about learning the basics of programming in C#, Mr. Petzold's book delivers on just what the title implies.

BINGO! Simply the best C# learning book available!

As a beginning programmer(with no background other than a little FileMaker scripting)i have searched the book stores for anything "readable" about the subject. I have spent a great deal of money on all the well known titles, whitch i haven't been able to read and understand properly. But here it is! -And im a very happy man, writing programs in C#!Describe this book in three words: Very Very Fine