What type of program?

  • Thread starter Thread starter elyob
  • Start date Start date
E

elyob

Hi, a quick hello first to all on this group!

I've been looking at getting into c# for a while now, and think I have just
about all the tools, and a fair amount of literature on the subject. However
I have a few questions, which the literature doesn't answer. Hopefully I can
get a few pointers here.

Firstly, one thing I can't find, is the VS.Net documents, and I wasn't that
keen on sticking posters on my lounge wall while I learn. What do you guys
keep on your desks or computers to reference to? I'm guessing you need to
reference to classes fairly often (or certainly, I will).

Next, what sort of programs is C# best suited for? I'm only part way through
the CBT, and am still quizical about what sort of programs I want to develop
out of this. I know that big institutions use C# (Lloyds of London etc), but
how do the end users use it? Are they using Windows applications, console
applications, ASP.net web applications etc?

I certainly will have more questions as I progress, but that's a reasonable
start.

As a background, I am currently a PHP developer using a more functional
programming style and this is a first foot into real OO programming.

Regards

Nick
 
Hiya,

I have to say my main reference is Google and these newsgroups. As far
as books go, I bought a few as I went along (Windows Forms Programming
in C# - Chris Sells, C# Complete - Sybex, .NET Framework Essentials -
Thai & Lam, among others). To be honest I generally buy a book when I
want to sit down and get a general grasp on something. I rarely refer to
them for reference, unless I remember reading something particularly
relevent. I find a Google search first and then a question here if not
found to be the best.

Re applications, I think the bigger question is what is the .NET
Framework suited to? I have mainly developed web applications where
there is a big rollout to do (to save all those desktop installs),
although there is the One Click Deployment model for pushing Desktops
out via the web/intranet.

I'm sure several others will have answers on this so I leave the floor
:), but suffice to say that I have used C# for web apps, desktop apps
and web services all with good results in terms of development time,
maintainability and sutiability to the job at hand.

Hope this helps.

Oh by the way, in terms of contract work the majority of my work is
aimed at the desktop. Not to say this an indication of the market as a
whole, just my personal experience. Might be worth skimming a few of the
job sites to see where the demand is. (Funny I always recommend that to
people, but haven't done it myself for ages :)).

Simon
 
Hi Nick,

My favorite reference for C#, Visual Studio.Net, the CLR, and almost
anything else Microsoft, is all in one neat little (?!) package that you can
download for free from Microsoft: the Microsoft .Net SDK. Check this out:

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

As for what sort of programs C# is suited for, that's kind of like asking
what sort of buildings you can make with bricks. The answer is, almost any
sort of programs. Now, if you want to write low-level device drivers,
Operating Systems, or other really low-level stuff, you'll need C++ or C,
but for about anything else, C# will do it all. What would YOU like to work
on?

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
..Net Developer
If you push something hard enough,
it will fall over.
- Fudd's First Law of Opposition
 
Simon said:
Hiya,

I find a Google search first and then a question here if not found to be
the best.
Click to expand...

Hopefully my questions won't be too basic. I've even gone for the C# for
dummies book to get my head around the object oriented stuff. I think I've
got a lot of it, but the CBT I've been watching can race ahead.

I guess I just need an idea of the main commands used for the majority of
stuff, but I guess it depends what I want to do.
Re applications, I think the bigger question is what is the .NET Framework
suited to? I have mainly developed web applications where there is a big
rollout to do (to save all those desktop installs), although there is the
One Click Deployment model for pushing Desktops out via the web/intranet.

I'm sure several others will have answers on this so I leave the floor :),
but suffice to say that I have used C# for web apps, desktop apps and web
services all with good results in terms of development time,
maintainability and sutiability to the job at hand.
Click to expand...

I'm looking at creating a desktop app with a web service to possibly
push/pull data when online. I don't know, it's just a test app. I have a
MySQL database I could use firstly for testing this out.

Thanks
 
Kevin Spencer said:
Hi Nick,

My favorite reference for C#, Visual Studio.Net, the CLR, and almost
anything else Microsoft, is all in one neat little (?!) package that you
can download for free from Microsoft: the Microsoft .Net SDK. Check this
out:

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

I already have Visual Studio 2003 installed, this won't conflict with any of
it will it? Also, was it .NET Framework 2.0 SDK x86 that you are pointing
me towards?
As for what sort of programs C# is suited for, that's kind of like asking
what sort of buildings you can make with bricks. The answer is, almost any
sort of programs. Now, if you want to write low-level device drivers,
Operating Systems, or other really low-level stuff, you'll need C++ or C,
but for about anything else, C# will do it all. What would YOU like to
work on?
Click to expand...

A reasonable project would be to access my existing remote MySQL databases,
display the information within a desktop app. At the moment I'm trying to
get to see how bigger companies use them. Do they run intranets with C# web
services or would they provide desktop apps that users open up?

I am guessing that desktop apps is the main focus, I guess I'd like to see
some examples of some great looking apps etc to see what can be achieved.

Thanks
 
Hi Nick,
I already have Visual Studio 2003 installed, this won't conflict with any
of it will it? Also, was it .NET Framework 2.0 SDK x86 that you are
pointing me towards?
Click to expand...

The link is to a page that links to all of the .Net SDKs. Take your pick. If
you have VS.Net 2003 installed, you may already have the .Net 1.1 SDK
installed on your system (it is an optional install from the VS.Net
installation). You can have multiple SDKs and versions of the MSDN Library
installed on the same system with no problems. I have both the .Net 1.1 and
..Net 2.0 SDKs installed on my systems.
A reasonable project would be to access my existing remote MySQL
databases, display the information within a desktop app. At the moment I'm
trying to get to see how bigger companies use them. Do they run intranets
with C# web services or would they provide desktop apps that users open
up?
Click to expand...

Regardless of the size of the company, the design of an application is based
upon requirements. Web applications are useful in many distributed
situations, such as intranets, as they don't require any software
installation on the client, and don't require any upgrading (the actual
software is on a single web server). Desktop apps are easier to build by a
long shot, as they have persistent memory, and don't have to deal with the
vagaries of browser and TCP/IP network issues. But again, the requirements
determine the structure, or "form follows function." quite often an
application will use some combination, particularly if it has network
components (such as remote MySQL databases to connect to).
I am guessing that desktop apps is the main focus, I guess I'd like to see
some examples of some great looking apps etc to see what can be achieved.
Click to expand...

Well, I can't really help you there, other than to talk about what I've
worked on and seen myself. After all, you can't just obtain a desktop
application without either buying it or downloading it from somewhere.
Believe me, there are plenty of them out there. The most extensive desktop
app I've worked on is a Managed Direct 3D situational awareness application
that can be carried on a laptop into a small aircraft, hooked up to a GPS,
and models terrain and other information in real-time using 3D modelling.
Again, though, the sky's the limit. You can build almost anything with C#
that you can build with C++ or C.

As you are starting out, I would recommend starting small, giving yourself
fairly simple projects to learn with, and increasing in complexity as you
learn. Learning to program is like eating an elephant. You don't want to eat
much more than a "byte" at a time.

;-)

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
..Net Developer
If you push something hard enough,
it will fall over.
- Fudd's First Law of Opposition
 
Back
Top