Thread: Lots of questions

>1. How easy is it to learn and program in C#?
If you know C, it shouldn't be too difficult. Though you'll probably have a few initial issues with the OO stuff.

>2. What's C#'s strongest field?
C# is presently best suited to .NET applications, whether they be web pages, web services, Windows applications, Windows services, or whatever else .NET supports.

>3. Does C# have anything in common with C? Will anything look familiar?
A lot of basic syntax is based off of C, so you'll feel comfortable with most loops, conditionals, variables, and such.

>Why wasn't C# based on a more successful language
Java has been very successful. I'm sure some of the folks over at JavaRanch will be thrilled to point out all of the projects that use it.

>5. Does C# beat Java?
No, and Java doesn't beat C# either.

>6. I'm very confused about C#'s portability.
That's because you're confusing C# with .NET. C# is just a language, and it can be ported to another system just as easily as someone writing a compiler for that system.

>7. What about C#'s speed?
Once again, you're confusing the language with the implementation. But from what I've seen, C# programs are fast enough for what they do.

>8. Does a C# program need the .NET framework in order to run?
Presently, yes.

>Do C# programs take up a lot of system resources (like Java) ?
Not if the programs are well written. Sure, there's some overhead, but for the most part I've found C# apps to be surprisingly lean.

>10. Can you name some big C# projects that have been done so far?
EMC is a back-end company that owns big name software across the board. The majority of their stuff is .NET based these days, written in C#. That's also an increasingly more common case as more and more corporations adopt .NET.

>11. Can you explain to m the process followed each time I compile a C# program?
A C# program is compiled into an IL assembly by the C# compiler, which is then compiled into native machine code by the CLR when the assembly is run.

>13. Does Mono work perfectly? Is it fully compatible with the .NET
>framework? How up to date is it? Does it cover .NET 3.0?
No, no, not very, and I don't think it covers 2.0 yet.

>14. Can I program C# on Mac OS X?
With Mono or a similar framework, yes.

>15. Can you recommend any good tutorials on OOP and C#?
I don't know of any.

>16. What about books?
Microsoft Press has a good book out for experienced players: "Programming Visual C# 2005: The Language". That should be a first start, I think.

>What are the changes to C# (the language itself) from 2.0 to 3.0?
I'm not fully up to date on the latest changes, but from 1.1 to 2.0 to 3.0, things are added, but nothing old is broken. You can get a 2.0 book and have an easier time learning 3.0 because of it.

>18. Should I learn the basics of C++ and/or Java to get the OOP feel first, or can I just go to C# directly?
Why? Neither C++ nor Java are any better of an introduction to OOP than C#, so you'd just be adding an unnecessary (and long) step if your goal is to learn C#.

>19. I think I have misunderstood what the .NET framework is. Currently,
>I think of it like some sort of higher level API that provides wrappers
>to the Win32 API calls, in order to provide easiness and friendliness to
>the programmer. Is that correct?
No. The .NET framework is its own entity, and only a small portion wraps Win32 functionality. That's a common misconception (I thought that too for a while), but the framework is a great deal more than it seems at first.

>15. Can you recommend any good tutorials on OOP and C#?

http://www.csharpcorner.com/

http://www.csharphelp.com/links.html

Or a good search engine...

>16. What about books?

Starting Out with C#
Beginning Visual C# 2005
Visual C# How to Program, 2nd ed.
Beginning C# Objects from Concepts to Code
Learning C# 2005

A lot of reference books are good and some are bad- depends on what you like..

>18. Should I learn the basics of C++ and/or Java to get the OOP feel first, or can I just go to C# directly?
Agree, with Prelude above- but to fully answer that I would need to see how "newbie" you are- i.e. learn quickly, etc...

>Starting Out with C#
I still haven't gotten that, the price is stupid (I only paid a tad more for the entire Knuth series, and I seriously doubt your book matches that kind of quality). Can you suggest a place to get it for less than $100 new or $50 used?

I still haven't gotten that, the price is stupid (I only paid a tad more for the entire Knuth series, and I seriously doubt your book matches that kind of quality). Can you suggest a place to get it for less than $100 new or $50 used?

Well it does not match the Knuth series...

For a cheap copy look online at Amazon or others. If you still live in Georgia Prelude you may check around...some colleges in Georgia have adopted text and you may find it at a half-priced bookstore...

The AWL marketing rep explained to me about a year ago how they price books...the book is about the same price as other comparable intro programming books in C++, Java, C#-


Just think most colleges/univ bookstores take that price you see and add extra 10 to 15 more to the price for the students..


BTW, Prelude, Congratulations I heard you are going to have a baby...

>the book is about the same price as other comparable intro programming books in C++, Java, C#
Ironic that the most expensive books tend to suck the most, isn't it? By the way, I was quoting amazon. $100 for new, $50+ for used. Eh, I'll probably pick up a bargain basement copy in a few years unless I have a sudden desire to see your work.

>Just think most colleges/univ bookstores take that price you see and add extra 10 to 15 more to the price for the students..
Yea, and people wonder why students are always broke.