Similarly, the authors discuss VB.NET and C++ along with the byte code they compile to--Intermediate Language--backward compatibility with COM and comparisons with other languages including Java (not all entirely accurate).

In Professional C# you start at the beginning with types, variables, casting (boxing), scope and other basics followed by flow control: if, switch, while and foreach (from VB). Just about every feature of C# is then discussed and demonstrated along with all the things you might want to do with it in a Windows environment, ending with a long chapter on .NET security. There follows sections for other language programmers moving to C#. It's all rather thorough.

High points include the section on Visual.NET studio, XML, Active Directory and ASP.NET--largely for the way they demonstrate how hard Microsoft has worked to integrate .NET features (of which C# is one). The discussions associated with the practical code samples are also excellent, for example, the one on programming graphics with GDI+ (following the section on forms) which introduces some interesting gotchas.

While completeness is to be applauded Professional C# suffers from dry wordiness and poor subbing common to many multi-authored Wrox programming titles. Despite constantly wishing the text were as tightly written as the code Professional C# is an accessible reference to the language suitable for anyone with an interest in C#. --Steve Patient

In many ways this book would be a "return to form" for Wrox Press after some real stinkers recently, but it is let down by the fact it has been rushed into print and clearly not been proof-read (there are over 4 pages of errata at the Wrox web site - and that's excluding a lot of the irritating "plain English" typo's that are also scattered on virtually every page!) Hopefully they'll get someone to proofread the second edition (when the final release ships), but in the meantime this is good value for money and a thorough introduction to the language for newcomers to the world of C/C#


outstanding!   September 7, 2001
 2 out of 5 found this review helpful

Fantastic use of csharp an ideas of potential csharp development. I've read most of the sections about 3 times now... The section on remoting is the most thorough I've seen anywhere on the internet including the MSDN website. This exemplifies the standard that we have come to expect from Wrox.


Comprehensive and detailed, but with a few rough edges   July 10, 2001
 6 out of 7 found this review helpful

There seems to have been a race to get the first C# books on to our (virtual) bookshelves, and most of the initial offerings are a bit dubious. However, this particular one bubbles to the top of the heap - it's very comprehensive, covering much more than the title would suggest (maybe a better title would be "Programming .NET with C#"). The coverage of C# is very good, and the additional sections on, say, ADO.NET and GDI+ are very interesting. The style is OK, though inconsistencies show up between chapters.

There are a few irritations - a number of trivial errors and typos (the results of rushing to get the book out?), a lot of repetition (possibly due to having so many authors and not enough edit time) and, in spite of the "Professional" in the title, too much time spent on basics (do we really need yet another introduction to OO programming?) - despite these niggles, however, the book is probably the best of the current crop of .NET related books.