Best book ever!,  March 20 2008
Submitted by alex   [Respond | View]

I am a supposedly advanced developer MCSD, 10 years experience and this was easily the best book I have seen ever! Ok maybe not as fun as 100 years of solitude but...The examples really help with understanding concepts which I should understand but was maybe a little hazy about, oops, and helped me learn lots of the new stuff really quickly. Great book and let me know when the boys write anything again!


Point and Shot Book,  November 17 2007
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

Really a fantastic work by the authors. Totally rewritten as well as restructured from its previouse edition.

This book gives clear cut information required about every aspect of C# language and avoids lengthy preachings. Great book for people moving from other Programming languages to get a quick grasp of C# as well as Dot Net Framework.

It can even be used as a reference for Microsoft's Technology Specialist Exam (70-536 Application Development Foundation) along with MS Press's Certification Guide.

A must have for any one who is in Dot Net Development at any level.


Stellar c# 3.0 Reference,  November 07 2007
Submitted by Alan Sheats   [Respond | View]


For intermediate to advanced developers looking for a comprehensive reference to C# 3.0, Joseph and Ben Albahari?s new book C# 3.0 in a Nutshell, 3rd ed. (O?Reilly September 2007, ISBN-10: 0-596-52757-8) is the perfect source. Completely rewritten for C# 3.0 and Linq, the Albaharis? book dives in deep and provides details not found elsewhere. At the same time, the book maintains a sharp and clear focus on C#, the CLR and the core Framework assemblies.

The authors also make it very clear from the outset that the book is not a tutorial on C#, but rather intended as a desktop reference for experienced programmers. Neither does the book skim the new .NET applied technologies, such as WPF, WCF and ASP.NET AJAX. Instead, it is assumed that the reader interested in such subjects will refer to one of the many in-depth books available on these technologies.

After a brief introductory chapter on C# and its relation to the .NET framework, there are three chapters totaling about 150 pages on C# Basics, Creating Types in C# and Advanced C# covering the essential language elements in the clear, concise and insightful style that is the authors? hallmark. Coverage of advanced C# features includes anonymous types, lambda expressions and extension methods, all of which were introduced with C# 3.0. This section ends with an excellent presentation of XML documentation, a subject often neglected or poorly presented in other C# books.

The next two chapters provide an overview of the .NET framework and core assemblies with forward references to more detailed information in subsequent chapters. The focus here is on the mscorlib, System, System.Core and System.XML assemblies, but the book includes a complete mapping of all framework namespaces to assemblies as an appendix that alone is nearly worth the price of the book. These two relatively short framework chapters do an excellent job of documenting the differences between 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 versions of the framework and the corresponding versions of C# and the CLR. The Framework Fundamentals chapter also covers the core .NET types String and DateTime, as well as the basic numeric types. Here you will find detailed descriptions of formatting and parsing of these types with numerous code examples and several comprehensive tables that serve as an excellent quick reference for these mundane but necessary programming tasks.

Three chapters on Linq (Linq Queries, Linq Operators and Linq to XML) are preceded by a chapter on Collections and followed by a chapter on Other XML Technologies. These chapters are where the book really shines, and the presentation of Linq is simply brilliant. After the introduction in previous chapters to extension methods and lambda expressions on which Linq is based, the authors go into some detail on generic iterators as part of setting the stage for Linq queries. Unlike other books covering generics, C# 3.0 in a Nutshell goes into some detail about the mechanics of generic iterators and emphasize the importance of C# 2.0 generics as the foundation for Linq and the IEnumerable<T> and IQueryable<T> interfaces on which Linq queries are based. With this solid foundation, Linq becomes as simple and elegant as its designers intended. Readers will also be delighted by the LinqPad utility available on the authors? website, which supports direct entry of queries in C# or SQL and includes some 200 queries from the book for hands-on exploration and learning.

Another solid section of the book consists of three chapters on Streams+I/O, Networking and Serialization. Each of these chapters explains its subject in a comprehensive yet cohesive manner in which the overall architecture is presented first in diagrams and tables that clearly show the relationships between the various classes. The various streams, network pipes and serialization engines are then presented in order with many illustrative examples and quick-reference tables that developers will find much easier to use than searching through volumes of online documentation in Visual Studio.

The final chapters of the book cover what are normally considered advanced topics, such as Assemblies, Reflection, Threading, Asynchronous Methods, AppDomains and Native Interop. As in previous chapters, the authors do not skim these subjects but dive deep. Each topic is presented in detailed yet very concise descriptions as would be expected from authors who are true experts and have taken the time to get under the hood and examine closely how everything works. Regrettably, the authors were not able to include material on COM Interop from the previous edition of the book, but these chapters are available on their website, where a draft version of the chapter on multi-threading can also be downloaded.
C# 3.0 takes a giant step forward in the evolution of the language, with Linq arguably the most fundamental change to date, moving C# closer to functional programming languages such as Haskell and F#. C# 3.0 in a Nutshell will make even experienced C# programmers see the language in a new light and hopefully instill greater respect for C# and .NET in developers coming from other platforms. For many developers who like myself feel that there is still much yet to learn in C#/.NET 2.0, the step up to C# 3.0 may seem daunting. Make no mistake about it, however, the release of C# 3.0 and Linq will mark a sea change that will sweep all of us with it over time.

For those who want a solid reference for C# 3.0 today, there is no better choice than C# 3.0 in a Nutshell. For me, it almost immediately became an indispensible reference. At nearly 850 pages, C# 3.0 in a Nutshell is certainly not a pocket reference, but it is definitely a book that every serious C# developer would do well to have close at hand.

"I absolutely love what the Albahari brothers (Joe & Ben) have done with C# 3.0 in a Nutshell. Not only is their prose concise in a way that mine is not, but I have learned a bunch of stuff about LINQ I didn't know, they built a tool (LINQPad) that lets you experiment with LINQ interactively in a way that the designers of LINQ themselves don't support and the tool has all kinds of wonderful features that LINQ, SQL and Regular Expression programmers alike will want to use regularly long after they've read the book. And if that weren't enough, the tool comes with an integrated tree of samples that follow along with the material in the book, teaching the material from another angle and reinforcing it perfectly. It's pure genius and if I ever write another book, it's a model I'm going to follow. Very highly recommended."
-- Chris Sells, Sells Brothers

"C# 3.0 In A Nutshell presents the reader with a wealth of information about C# 3.0 and .NET, including a fairly solid introduction to the features of .NET 3.5, including the introduction of LINQ. While it's designed for existing C# developers, the book includes a good introductory tutorial that means that readers with Java or C++ experience, for example, can quickly pick things up...It's to the credit of the authors that they've managed to produce a book packed with content but which doesn't read like a spooling of API documentation...Overall this is an excellent resource for C# developers and is therefore highly recommended."
-- Pan Pantziarka, TechBookReport

"C# 3.0 in a Nutshell is obviously a complete rewrite and has quickly become my prime reference...Thanks again for an excellent book that I expect to stand me in good stead for several years to come."
-- Alan Sheats