How can I start programming with "Teach yourself C# in 21 days"?

Hi all,

I am new in Programming and in this community, I have just bought the book " Teach yourself C# in 21 days"! however, I got confused, and didn't know how to apply the examples into Microsoft Visual Studio 2010!!?

the programming used in the book looks for general use, not for Visual studio, but Visual Studio has many applications and windows form and console... etc. and I couldn't apply the examples correctly.

Please, If you know how to use Visual Studio with the book, tell me, I'll be really grateful and more than happy.

Kind Regard
Dev

Your question is overly broad and can't really be answered. You're essentially asking for a tutorial on a huge program from one of us. There is plenty of info out there on how to use Visual Studio to create various types of applications if you just search around a bit.

As for your book... I distrust any "Learn XXX Language in 21 Days" type of book. You will not learn the language in 21 days, it will take far longer. As long as you realize that and don't get frustrated you'll be fine, but don't expect to pick up programming in a month.

Thank you for the reply,

as for the C# I wasn't actually looking for a tutorial, I just didn't know where to put the codes from the book to the program, but i find a way to fit it in, and hopefully It'll work with me until the end.

I wasn't really expecting to finish in 21 days lol, the book expects me to be studying every whole night and thats impossible for me, I got a lot to do, lol

so yea, my question is if you are familiar with the book and know the best way to write the programs from the book to the Visual Studio, Please tell me!!

Thank you all for the help

I like to figure one chapter at a time. Rather than 21 days, work for 21 separate days, but always finish a chapter, and if questions, go back and do the chapter again.

Read the book first. Then, TYPE IN EVERY LINE OF CODE. It will show you how the IDE works.

Forget about these books that entitled "Learn/Teach yourself...in 21 days",. I tried one some time ago and found that at about chapter 3, the subjects turned to something way off the point of point of the book - something I never came across in years of work, and something I haven't seen since.

I will recommend the MS series of books. These cover either C# or VB and then ADO.NET and then Windows clients and then web clients and services. They were 6 BIG books, intended for MCTS certification. I obtained them in a course that took 5 months at 5 hours a day. The best part was the assignments because they had a goal. Without a goal - using just the books, you will only learn small parts of the technology.

I seem to remember that when I first started with VB that I had something like "Visual Basic: Learning Edition" (or something) that included (a) Visual Studio and (b) some disks that contained a book (like the 'Learn in 21 days...') AND had some video files that would actually show you "Open the editor like this...; type in this code... compile it... see how it works?... what if we changed this line and recompile..." in 5-minute type movies.

I'm not sure if there is anything like that still, but I found them very helpful at the time. If that exists, I recommend you taking a look at it if it isn't too expensive.

Otherwise my standard advice: Pick a (simple!) project and then Google around to see if there are any tutorials about it (or sub-problems). Since it sounds like you have very little experience, I recommend "simple" to mean something like... "write a program that reverses a string" (or of similar difficulty to start with... don't choose 'build a multi-threaded, networked automated control system for the space shuttle' :-] )

Oh, and yes, I echo Ed's comments: you will not master programming in 3 weeks. You might pick up some general ideas, but it will take time to get comfortable with it. Don't get discouraged and keep going!

Good luck; let us know if we can be of any help.

I echo everyone's sentiments about the TY ... in 21 days books. I had one when I just started out with C++ - that was ages ago. The only good thing about that book was the glue used to glue the pages together. That book went flying in all possible directions for many days! LOL!

Best thing you can do is get a new book. Microsoft Press has the best books, full stop.

I train students with those books.

Good luck, and do not lose hope. Starting off with programming can be quite frustrating, so without the proper books you won't get far. You'll make it :)

Looking at online reviews for a particular book may be helpful, but don't trust the reviews too much - a review more like a general guide, and a one that doesn't know what way of learning suits you best.

But, 21 days is just a marketing trick (besides, as someone here said, it doesn't necessarily mean 21 days in a row) - take your time and make sure that you understand things. When the book fails to explain something - turn to Google.
I often find it useful to have two books on the same subject, as this way you have two different perspectives, that could ideally complement each other. Of course, you have to decide how to use each of them; for example, you could pick one as your primary study source, and use the other as an additional reference.

In any case, if you have a teacher or a more experienced person to talk to - by all means don't hesitate. And again - there's always the web.

As for your question: I haven't read TYS C# in 21 Days, so I don't know how good it is. Amazon.com rating seems decent, and it seems to me that the book aims to teach the very basics of programming - the most fundamental stuff to get you started.

This means that it probably mostly deals with console applications. So, to run the code, you need to create a new C# Console Application project. When you do that, the IDE will generate a file named Program.cs - open it. There you'll find a class called Program (it doesn't matter if you don't know what a class is yet), and a method called Main - the entry point to your application. The first few chapters will most likely have all the code within this method. Type it in, see what happens. When you start feeling comfortable, start experimenting a bit.
The book should provide some further guidance.

In order to type in the code from the book, you need to start by creating a Visual C# Console app project.

1) Click "File\New\Project..."
2) Under Installed Templates, expand "Visual C#" and click "Windows"
3) Click the "Console Application" template.
4) Enter a project name, choose the location and press "OK".

When the project is created, the Program.cs file will open and you'll be left with something like:

Code:

---

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
  class Program
  {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {

    }
  }
}

---

Put your code inside the Main method and you're off and running.

Thank you guys for all your replies and support, i am really happy to receive all this comments in 1 day.

I am really interested in programming and because my uni uses C# i started with it, but i was looking C++

I have "TY C# in 21 days" and "C# for students" and I'll go and get what have you guys recommended for me,

thank you guys and I'll keep in touch and show you my works in the near future XD

Arjay is the only one who understood the OP. Nite Nite.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by viperbyte

Arjay is the only one who understood the OP. Nite Nite.

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Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
http://hammertoneaudio.com/App_Theme...r_64x64_72.png
WRONG :D

(He did provide a more detailed explanation than me, though. :thumb:)

That's right GreatCthulhu you also got it right. Seems like I'm also a victim of of just glancing over. Funny how we all write code which is very detailed oriented, especially in a case sensitive language and we just glance stuff over that's much less demanding.