help on getting started in c#

[J]

I'm interested in learning C#. I'm an old C programmer (started with MS C
ver 3), but haven't used it in quite awhile, spending most of my time in VB,
Powerbuilder, PHP, Perl, etc., but not C++.

1. Where do I get the compiler (only available in Visual Studio)?
2. Is there a cheap or free, trial or learning version available?
3. Any recommendations for books (considering my experience)?

Many thanks.

 

[Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]]

J,

Welcome to the world of .NET. =) See inline:

1. Where do I get the compiler (only available in Visual Studio)?

The compiler is available for free. You just have to download the .NET
framework, and it is installed. You can find the framework at (watch for
line wrap):

http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/downloads/updates/default.aspx

Note that the one at the top of the page is the beta for 2.0, and the
versions decrease as you go down.

2. Is there a cheap or free, trial or learning version available?

The framework SDK is free. Also, MS announced that they are offering
lightweight versions of Visual Studio .NET for free, called Express
editions. You can find those at (watch for line wrap):

http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/

I believe they are free, and if not, the price is very low (like $30 or
something like that) for which you can get a refund (I forget exactly how it
works).

3. Any recommendations for books (considering my experience)?

There are a gazillion of them out there, and to be honest, I can't say
any are particularly outstanding. I would recommend getting your feet wet,
finding out what you get and what you don't (being a programmer, you
shouldn't have such a hard time learning it), and then finding a book that
suits your needs.

Hope this helps.

 

[Daniel Weinand]

Am Mon, 18 Oct 2004 15:18:50 -0500 schrieb J:

I'm interested in learning C#. I'm an old C programmer (started with MS C
ver 3), but haven't used it in quite awhile, spending most of my time in VB,
Powerbuilder, PHP, Perl, etc., but not C++.

1. Where do I get the compiler (only available in Visual Studio)?

said above

2. Is there a cheap or free, trial or learning version available?

try this:
http://www.sharpdevelop.com/OpenSource/SD/Default.aspx

nice tool

3. Any recommendations for books (considering my experience)?

Many thanks.

i'm positiv about the oreilly books.
Programming C sharp by Jesse Liberty for example.
but there are so much books......
but i think in the most cases oreilly can't be wrong.

cheers

 

[Guest]

The Express editions are only in beta. Borland have a
personal/non-commerical version of C# Builder. It can be downloaded from

http://www.borland.com/products/downloads/download_csharpbuilder.html#

Regards,
Phil.

 

[David McClarnon]

I'm interested in learning C#. I'm an old C programmer (started with MS C
ver 3), but haven't used it in quite awhile, spending most of my time in VB,
Powerbuilder, PHP, Perl, etc., but not C++.

1. Where do I get the compiler (only available in Visual Studio)?
2. Is there a cheap or free, trial or learning version available?
3. Any recommendations for books (considering my experience)?

Many thanks.

Am I right in assuming you don't know C++ at all, no object orientation ?

First things first. Forget the freeware - go and spend the $90 or
whatever it is to buy C# Standard Edition.

This will give you a whole copy of MSDN.

Secondly, you need to know object orientation. Buy a book on object
oriented design.

Design is everything in C# unless you want to write horrendously slow code.

Why do I say slow code ?

Well, huge C files were pretty standard in your day. Even huge C++ files
were too. A huge C++ class didn't have any effect on performance.

With JITting, small nicely organised, reused classes will considerably
improve the efficiency of your code. And the only way of doing this is
to learn object oriented design techniques.

Darwen.