Getting started with C#

[andrelom]

This might be a stupid question but I really don't know. I'm very interested in starting with C#, but where do I get a compiler, do I have to download the microsoft .NET framework and will this cost me anything?

[BigEd781]

If only there were a topic at the top of this forum which had all of the information that you need...

[Traps]

Thats not a stupid question.

Go here: http://www.microsoft.com/express/vcsharp/

Go here for training w/videos: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/bb308760.aspx






If your seriously going to try and learn how to program, you need to become just as skilled at using www.google.com to find answers to your questions. Forums are great, but "most" of the time, your questions have already been answered somewhere out on the intertubes.....

[toraj58]

as compiler you can either use visual studio express edition or sharp develop that both of them are free and you can download the former from microsoft site.

for begining the best entry point is start to reading a book.
a book that is easy and comprehensive and rated good with people. the book should be general not designed for a specific area like OOP or Threading.

.Net framework is free (maybe you have it already installed; you should look at control panel).

for the begining i recommand this book:
Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Step by Step
its price is very fair.

for list of the books see here:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...c%23&x=16&y=22

after reading the first book it would be better that you be active in codeguru in order to help people and get helped and find the solution for you problem you encountered by asking poeple.

being active and helpful in this forum can be useful for you in future.

Note: before buying the book please read the short description of the book to have a better decision.

Note: asking question here is not stupid in any level but always asking simple questions show that it would be better for you to read a book from begining to end and understanding it completely.

[Traps]

toraj58,

I agree with you, and I disagree with you. The point that I disagree on is first learning .net. I honestly dont see ANYTHING better than the development path provided by microsoft in the link that I provided. The links along that path has videos. You cant beat videos. Someone actually clicking in the IDE, and discussing the reasons behind it. All the lessons I've seen come with transcripts, practice tests, and additional goodies to get you going. Now after going through tier 1, and perhaps tier 2, a good book will come in handy to glue the remaining questions together with answers.

The point that I emphatically agree with you on is participation in a software development community, like codeguru for example. By participation, I just dont mean reading the threads, but trying to provide answers to the original posters questions. You will learn how to use google to find answers. The best part is, you will run across answers to questions you have not even thought of yet. You may not realize or understand something you read at that moment, but in the future you WILL run into a situation that makes your brain pause for a moment, and think.... "yeah, I've read something about that .... lets search for "this" or "that" " and low and behold, you have your answer. I just hope that whatever community you try to fit into, they are kind enough, and patient enough to work with you, and accept the mistakes that you will make, and acknowledge the successes that you will inevetibly achieve.

Cheers!

[toraj58]

yes, i am agree with you; what i understood you mean that video learning and doing things practically is better for start and then reading the first book.

[BigEd781]

Video learning isn't better for everyone. I learn by doing. Spending half an hour to learn something that I could teach myself in 5 minutes isn't efficient for me.

[toraj58]

for you yes but for beginners is good thats why microsoft provide video tutorials and other famouse company do. sometimes for people listening and seeing is better than reading it. also brain can save better what you see better than what you listen better than reading.

[Traps]

Video learning isn't better for everyone. I learn by doing. Spending half an hour to learn something that I could teach myself in 5 minutes isn't efficient for me.

Where not just speaking about video learning here. Where talking about the Microsoft learning path. Most of them come with :
Video
Transcript
Project Code files
Study Guide and Exercises

They encourage you to follow along in yow own IDE while your watching the videos. Pause them, take notes. Each lesson also has source code downloads for the examples they show in the videos. Its not just some guy standing in front of an audience.

If you approach it the right way, its very much like sitting in a classroom, being instructed by a good teacher.

Like toraj58 said, and like the Microsoft name for the video's library says..... "Beginner Developer Learning Center" I just feel by my own personal experience with the development center, it is very usefull for people just starting out in .net.

Watch this video http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6075615 from lesson 6-tier2 of Object Oriented Programming. Of course I'm sure you'll think its useless, and thats because for you, it is useless. However for a beginner that doesnt know what a class is, it is very usefull. I actually used the learning center when I first started about 2 years ago, and look at me now! I've lost 50 lbs, and quite smoking. Best shape of my life..... oh wait..... hahhaha



My point is this. Follow the Microsoft lesson plans as though you are taking a college class online, or even in the actual class room. You dont have to do every one of them. Thats why they have a roadmap, and have the plans all divided up into 3 tiers. Pick and choose, skip over some if you want.

From one beginner to another, they helped me emmensly. I never once picked up a c# or vb.net book, and I'm not too shabby. I understand classes, interfaces, abstracts, etc.... What I'm not to great on is all the functionality available in the .net framework. That comes with experience, and I dont think anyone really knows the entire framework.

[toraj58]

What I'm not to great on is all the functionality available in the .net framework. That comes with experience, and I dont think anyone really knows the entire framework.

i am agree with you and adding that is not neccessary that you know every functionality and built-in classes in .Net framework but it is mandatory to know general aspects of languages, algorithms, patterns and in more advance best way of doing things. getting familiar with .net library with milions of functionality needs work and experience base on requirements for the project but knowing some classes and technics are fundamentals of going forth.

e.g. knowing principals of OOP is not very dependant to C# or .Net if you know it before from another language like C++ or Java then thats only enough for you to learn the implementation of it and learn subtleties of it in the new language.

[Traps]

Agreed. We think a like on opposite sides of the world. Now go learn WPF so you can teach me in codeguru's new WPF forum . We need some WPF guru's here, and fast!

I'm still trying to figure the best way to learn it. The principles of c# and vb .net are engrained in my brain, and its hard to give them up.

[bzzt]

Agreed. We think a like on opposite sides of the world. Now go learn WPF so you can teach me in codeguru's new WPF forum . We need some WPF guru's here, and fast!

I'm still trying to figure the best way to learn it. The principles of c# and vb .net are engrained in my brain, and its hard to give them up.

I just finished the book "Visual C# 2008" by John Sharp and most, if not all of the visual (non-console) examples are in WPF.
Exactly how popular is it compared to traditional VB or C# interfaces?
My goal is to become as proficient as I can in C# as quickly as possible. Is WPF an additional level of complexity that I shouldn't be concerned with right now?

[Arjay]

Exactly how popular is it compared to traditional VB or C# interfaces?

It's currently not as popular, but it is extremely powerful. I would be in a couple of years it is going to be very popular.

My goal is to become as proficient as I can in C# as quickly as possible. Is WPF an additional level of complexity that I shouldn't be concerned with right now?

It might be, and I would recommend getting a firm background in Windows Forms programming first. Unfortunately, by doing so you'll need to unlearn some of the WinForms programming concepts when you start with WPF. As far as WPF, the tools/editors need to catch up with the ones for WinForms at the present. Once that happens you might as well learn WPF from the get go.

[bzzt]

It's currently not as popular, but it is extremely powerful. I would be in a couple of years it is going to be very popular.
It might be, and I would recommend getting a firm background in Windows Forms programming first. Unfortunately, by doing so you'll need to unlearn some of the WinForms programming concepts when you start with WPF. As far as WPF, the tools/editors need to catch up with the ones for WinForms at the present. Once that happens you might as well learn WPF from the get go.

Yea, I might as well bite the bullet and pick up the XAML too. Seems like a lot of manual coding right now, such as binding fields from a table to a listview using a bunch of XAML tags.
But hey, if they made it easy enough for anyone to do then we'd be less valuable, right?