Blogs

Tags > headfirst

Why learn C?

In this Code podcast, "Head First C" co-author David Griffith discusses C's continued popularity and why C and Arduino work well together.

Understanding C#: Simple LINQ to XML examples (tutorial)

XML is one of the most popular formats for files and data streams that need to represent complex data. The .NET Framework gives you some really powerful tools for creating, loading, and saving XML files. And once you've got your hands on XML data, you can use LINQ to query anything from data that you created to an RSS feed. In this post, I'll show you two simple LINQ to XML tutorial style examples that highlight basic patterns that you can use to create or query XML data using LINQ to XML.

Understanding C#: Using BackgroundWorker to make your UI responsive

Someone once told me that he could tell a form was built by a novice C# developer if it stopped responding when he pressed a button. I'm not 100% sure I agree, but I definitely think that an intermediate or advanced C# developer should be able to build a form that stays responsive even when the program is doing something CPU intensive. Luckily, C# and .NET give us a simple way to do that using the BackgroundWorker class. Not only is it a great tool to let your programs do more than one thing at once, it's a good way for novice and intermediate C# developers to get started with threading.

Understanding C#: XML Comments

As C# developers get more experienced, there are a lot of things they pick up along the way that are really useful and important to know, even if they aren't necessarily directly code-related. One of those topics is XML comments, and I've been surprised at how many developers -- even really experienced ones -- don't use them, or even know about them. They're really useful, and they can help you build better software, even if they don't actually change the way your programs behave.

Understanding C#: Why make things private?

Andrew Stellman is the author of Head First C# and other books from O'Reilly. A reader on the Head First C# forum posted a question. It's actually a really good question, one that a lot of developers ask once they...

Understanding C#: Using virtual and override

One of our Head First C# readers posted a question on the book's forum: I don't understanding why I need to add 'virtual' keyword and 'override' keyword to make Penguin Fly() override Bird Fly(). [page 226] I think public class...

Your brain really is forgetting... a LOT

I'm currently reading Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life by Dr. Sandra Aamodt and Dr. Sam Wang. The enormity of the title notwithstanding, I'm enjoying the book, and ran across this rather amazing quotation: There is good evidence that we "erase" and "rewrite" our memories every time we call them, suggesting that if it were ever possible to erase specific content, playing it back first might be an essential component.