Head First C# (Brain-Friendly Guides) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Andrew Stellman, Jennifer Greene
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $49.99
Buy New: $27.97
You Save: $22.02 (44%)
New (33) Used (6) from $27.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 6676
Format: Illustrated
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 778
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.7
Dimensions (in): 9 x 8 x 2.2
ISBN: 0596514824
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.133
EAN: 9780596514822
ASIN: 0596514824
Publication Date: November 26, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: All orders ship same business day via standard shipping (USPS Media Mail) if received by 1 PM CST.
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Product Description
Do you want to learn C#? Programmers around the world have learned that C# lets them design great-looking programs and build them fast. With C#, you ve got a powerful programming language and a valuable tool at your fingertips. And with the Visual Studio IDE, you ll never have to spend hours writing obscure code just to get a button working. C#, Visual Studio and .NET take care of the grunt-work, and let you focus on the interesting parts of getting your programs written. Sound appealing?
Unlike other C# books, which just show you examples and expect you to just memorize them and move on, Head First C# gets you writing code from the beginning. You're given the tools you need, and then you're guided through fun and engaging programming projects. You'll build programs to play a card game, explore a house, and help lazy programmers manage their sick day excuses. But it's not all fun and games: you'll build business applications too, like a contact database and a program to help a party planner estimate her dinner parties. You'll build a dungeon role-playing game and a fully animated, colorful simulation of a beehive. And by the end of the book, you'll build a fast-paced, full-featured retro Invaders arcade game.
Make no mistake: by the time you're done with Head First C#, you'll be able to build full-scale, complex, and highly visual programs. And you'll have all of the C# tools you need to tackle almost any programming problem that comes your way.
Head First C# is built for your brain, using the revolutionary approach that was pioneered by the highly acclaimed and popular Head First series. You'll never get that bored, "eyes glazed over" feeling from Head First C#, because it guides you through one challenging project after another until, by the end of the book, you're a C# rock star!
Here's what you'll learn: - Core C# programming concepts
- How to use the Visual Studio 2008 IDE to build, debug and run your programs
- Important .NET 3.5 features, including generic collections, Windows forms, GDI+ graphics, streams, serialization and more
- Using object oriented programming concepts to help you build well-designed programs
- How to build robust applications with good error handling
- The latest C# 3.0 features, including LINQ, object and collection initializers, automatic properties, extension methods and more
Throughout the book, you'll confront and conquer advanced C# concepts. Some of the most mysterious ideas are demystified and explained with clear examples: how Unicode works, events and delegates, references versus value types, the stack versus the heap, what's really going on with garbage collection, and more.
Thousands of readers have learned C# using this innovative book, including: - Beginning programmers who want to learn programming from the ground up
- More advanced programmers who are proficient in another language (like Visual Basic, Java, SQL, FoxPro) and want to add C# to their toolbox
- Programmers who understand basic C# syntax, but are still looking to get a handle on how objects work
- Anyone who's tried to learn C#, but had to deal with books full of dull examples and nothing but boring console applications
- Lots of people who just want to learn how to build cool games!
Head First C# is built to work with any version of Visual Studio 2008, including the free express edition. (It can also can be used with any version of Visual Studio 2005.)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 48 more reviews...
 Unique October 6, 2008
This is unlike any other C# book I've come across, I wish it would have been the first one I'd bought when diving into programming for the first time. They've managed to make learning a programming language fun (a tall order). Everything is spelled out for the beginning programmer. There are plenty of pictures, notes, exercises, etc. to help you grasp what can be some pretty confusing concepts, especially if you're encountering them for the first time. It's also the only beginner's C# book I've seen that doesn't start you out writing console applications. In fact, you never write a single console app. Great book.
Great Book for Anyone Looking To Learn C# September 19, 2008
I've been programming in C and C++ for a little over 3 years, but decided to look in the direction of C#/XNA for game programming. I picked up this book to learn about C# before diving into the XNA framework and it has helped tremendously. Not only am I learning C#, but I'm learning it in a context that is fun and exciting. Many of the examples in the book are based around games. It doesn't get much better than this.
Delivers as Promised September 18, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Background:
After getting a degree in engineering and landing a job finance, I was tasked with writing an extensive analysis program in C#. Eventually I hobbled through the first draft and many many updates using dry, technical reference books and online searches. Recently, I decided to increase the breadth of knowledge to take on other programming projects of my own choosing.
Approach:
Head First C# matched up perefctly with my expectations. The book does not assume much prior knowledge, so someone, like me, with no background in computer science can work through it without much (if any) additional reference. However, unlike other (frustrating) programming books for beginners, it goes right into practical applications, setting itself apart. Despite not neccessarily going from simple to complex in subject matter, each chapter does build nicely on those before it. I would easily recommend this as a primer to C#, or for those like me, who need to expand their practical knowledge.
Style:
In the introduction, the book explains how its style is meant to capture and hold your attention so you actually absorb the material. I appreciated the informal writing style and creative use of fonts, but the gems here are the sections where you are given basic program outlines, some code fragments and asked to complete the program (with a healthy degree of freedom). Some reviewers complain about the amount of errors in the book. Maybe I'm not as attentive to detail, but while you will find some errors, none of them interfered with my progression through the book.
Content:
In addition to this book, you will probably want a reference book or two. Of course, it would take at least a couple dozen books to cover EVERYTHING you can do in C#. Now that I've read this book, though, I at least have a good idea what other books would be useful for me. With some of what I learned from Head First C#, I've created video games, card games and database applications. The variety of topics covered and demonstration of their application makes this a valuable read.
Needs an Editor? No way!! September 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is absolutely incredible. This was my "switch from VB to C#" book. After reading this entire book I feel and think like a professional C# developer, a true object oriented programer. So what it has a few typos or even sections of slight confusion. But the way this book is written teaches you how to think outside the box, not provide you with a quick Copy-Paste code example to use in your app.
Because of this book and my implementations, I've increased my salary substantially (because our development social rate C# programmers higher than VB programmers). Moreover, this book makes coding C# fun. You can't tell me applying base class and interface schemes to create a cool role-playing-game wasn't exciting.
So if you're not an english major/teacher/editor and think a few mistypes or spellings don't matter, you will definately want to get a copy of this book. I liked it so much that I purchased the Java book as well. Who would have ever thought programming was so fun!!!
HeadFirst C# August 31, 2008
i was trying to learn C# on my own, when i was searching through the web i cam across this book on your site which was also at a reasonable price. I checked on other sites but i found the price of this book more reasonable.
The book si really good as it explains most of the concepts very detailed way which helps everyone to understand. It is a book which is very worth than other books. I already heard about headfirst on java, but haven't read it. But now i read this book which is very informative.
Thanks a lot.
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