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INTRODUCTION
pick winning lottery numbers (if you do, please let me know!), but you will be able to build some
useful programs. And you’ll be ready to learn more about specialized topics such as database pro-
gramming, file processing, and graphics.
WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
This book is for anyone who wants to learn how to write programs using Visual C#. Whether you
want to move into a lucrative career as a software developer, add a few new skills to your resume, or
pick up a fascinating new hobby, this book can get you started.
This book does not assume you have any previous programming experience. It assumes you can turn
your computer on and surf the Web, but that’s about it for previous qualifications. It is suitable as a
first programming book for high school or college students, but its self-paced, hands-on approach
also makes it ideal if you’re trying to learn to program on your own.
I say all this because I don’t want to receive a bunch of flaming e-mails complaining that the material
in this book is too basic. So I’m warning you right now: If you’ve been programming in C++ or Visual
Basic for 16 years, don’t blame me if a lot of this material seems pretty simple to you. Don’t waste your
time complaining; go find a more advanced book.
WHAT THIS BOOK COVERS AND WHAT IT DOESN’T
This book explains Visual C# programming. It explains how to write, debug, and run desktop appli-
cations that interact with the user and the computer. It shows how to understand object-oriented
concepts, perform calculations, manipulate files and strings, produce printouts, and interact with
simple databases.
Programming in any language is an enormous topic, however, so this book doesn’t cover everything.
It doesn’t explain how to design databases, build cryptographically secure web applications, create
multithreaded programs that run on multiple cores or computers, or build Xbox games. All of those
tasks are possible using Visual C#, however, and after you finish this book you’ll be ready to move
on to more advanced books that cover those topics.
To make everything fit into a single book, I had to make some tough choices about what to include
and what to omit. This book focuses on desktop applications because, if you want to learn C# pro-
gramming, then you probably have a computer that can run applications. It doesn’t cover ASP.NET
programming using C# not because it’s a bad thing to learn, but because it’s a less self-contained
learning environment. Visual Studio will let you build ASP.NET web applications, but unless you
have a web server that supports ASP.NET, you won’t be able to exercise the full power of ASP.NET.
Similarly there are many ways to approach database programming. In this book, I’ve tried to give you
a taste of database programming without being completely overwhelming. The book’s lessons explain
how to use Visual Studio wizards to get simple database applications up and running quickly and
how to use LINQ to perform simple database queries. Database programming is an enormous topic,
however, and no general programming book can hope to cover it in its entirety.
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