Introduction

When I started on the first edition of this book, I got some very sage advice. “Write the book that you wish existed.”

This is not a book to teach you how to write code, nor is it a detailed language specification. It is designed to explain both how C# works and why it works that way—the kind of book that a professional developer who is going to be writing C# code would want.

Who This Book Is For

This book is for software developers who want to understand why C# is designed the way it is and how to use it effectively. The content assumes familiarity with object-oriented programming concepts.

How This Book Is Structured

After a couple of introductory chapters, the book progresses from the simpler C# features to the more complex ones. You can read the chapters in order, working your way through the entire language. Or you can choose an individual chapter to understand the details of a specific feature.

If you are new to C#, I suggest you start by reading the chapters on properties, generics, delegates and events, as well as the Linq chapters. These are the areas where C# is most different from other languages.

If you are more interested in the details of the language syntax, you may find it useful to download the C# Language Reference from MSDN.

Downloading the Code

The code for the examples shown in this book is available on the Apress web site, www.apress.com. You can find a link on the book’s information page. Scroll down and click on the Source Code/Downloads tab.

Contacting the Author

One of the humbling parts of being an author is that despite the best efforts of the technical reviewer and copy editor, mistakes and poor explanations will show up in any book. If you have found such a mistake or have a comment, you can contact me at [email protected].