Press Release
March 5, 2002
Liberty's Programming C# Tuned for the Next Generation of .NET
Sebastopol, CA--Jesse Liberty, the author of the new edition of
Programming
C# (O'Reilly, US $39.95), describes C# (pronounced C
Sharp) as a language that draws on the lessons of the past three
decades. He says: "In much the way that you can see in young children
the features and personalities of their parents and grandparents, you
can easily see in C# the influence of Java, C++, Visual Basic, and
other languages."
Announced by Microsoft more than a year ago as part of the unveiling of
the .NET platform, C# was designed to combine the high performance of
C, the object-oriented structure of C++, the security of Java, and the
rapid development of Visual Basic in a language especially for .NET
development.
"Microsoft did a radical thing with .NET," says Liberty. "Rather than
starting with a language, they started with a Common Language
Specification (CLS). Any language that complies with the CLS is able to
run on the .NET platform. What is more, if you comply with the CLS and
you use only types defined by the Common Type System (CTS) then your
objects can interoperate with (and derive from and be derived from) any
other CLS language. That means that you can create a class in VB.NET,
derive from it in C#, and then derive from that C# class back in
VB.NET! To accomplish this, they created a whole new language, and
then implemented that language with two syntaxes. One syntax is C# and
it looks a lot like C++ and Java. The other syntax is VB.NET and it
looks a lot like VB. In essence, both C# and VB.NET are the same
language with different syntactic sugar."
Liberty doesn't attempt to duplicate the extensive documentation
already available from Microsoft. Programming C# was written for
programmers who want to develop applications for the .NET platform and
assumes some previous programming experience, most likely C++, Java, or
VB. This new book teaches C# in a way that experienced programmers will
appreciate--by grounding its applications firmly in the context of
Microsoft's .NET platform and the development of desktop and Internet
applications.
As Liberty explains: "You learn C# specifically to create .NET
applications. Pretending otherwise would miss the point of the
language. This book does not consider C# in a vacuum but places the
language in the context of Microsoft's .NET platform. Microsoft says it
is devoting eighty percent of its research and development budget to
.NET and its associated technologies--that is a few billion dollars of
R&D; every year. The results of this commitment are impressive, to say
the least. .NET is huge. Frankly, I think C# is one of the most
important developments in ten years. I expect C# to become the
development language of choice for Windows development, and one of the
two most important languages (alongside Java) for web development."
What the critics said about the first edition:
"A well-written book that gets straight to the point of all the topics
it covers."
--Computer Shopper, December 2001
"An adept and extremely well conceived guide to C#...Liberty's wide
experience in computers and general writing skill shows, as he is able
to draw on a wealth of examples to move his text forward...it's an
excellent language tutorial, certainly one of the smartest and best
available guides to C# as a language. The author's sure hand here in
navigating the difficult waters of C# and .NET makes for a relatively
concise text that is chock-full of useful information on C#. Filled
with notably clever and inventive examples, this book is possibly this
veteran computer author's best title to date, and it's sure to be a
noteworthy resource as experienced developers tackle C# for the first
time."
--Richard Dragan, amazon.com, October 2001
"Excellent C# coverage and examples. Best C# book so far. Must read!"
--Daniel W. Maltes, .NET Best Picks, amazon.com November 2001
"C# is something that all .NET developers should get familiar with and this
book is the best."
--dotnet-evangelist, Pure ASP.NET, amazon.com
"Written in the usual readable and informative O'Reilly
style...knowledge of C# is likely to be one of those requires resume
checkmarks for programmers who wish to work in the Microsoft operating
system world. Grab it if you're in that business, or if you simply want
to understand a new language which may computers will speak in the
future."
--Netsurfer Digest August 1, 2001
"More than just about any other writer, Jesse Liberty is brilliant at
communicating what it's really like to work on a programming
project...If you're ready to start learning C#, your timing is perfect.
Liberty--who, we're convinced, could teach programming to
chimpanzees--has just completed his new introduction to the language.
You can't beat Liberty for clarity and simplicity, and you can't beat
his Programming C# for thoroughness, either."
--Barnes & Noble
Online Resources:
Programming C#,
2nd Edition
By Jesse Liberty
0-596-00309-9, Order Number: 3099
656 pages, $39.95 (US) $59.95 (CA)
800-998-9938; 707-827-7000
order@oreilly.com
About O'Reilly
O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.
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