Sebastopol, CA--Jesse Liberty, the author of Programming C#
(O'Reilly, US $39.95), describes C# (pronounced C Sharp) as a language
that draws on the lessons of the past three decades. He says, "In much
the way that you can see in young children the features and
personalities of their parents and grandparents, you can easily see in
C# the influence of Java, C++, Visual Basic (VB), and other languages."
Announced by Microsoft more than a year ago as part of the unveiling of
the .NET platform, C# was designed to combine the high-performance of
C, the object-oriented structure of C++, the security of Java, and the
rapid development of Visual Basic in a new language especially for .NET
development.
The focus of Liberty's book is the C# language and its use as a tool
for programming on the .NET platform. As Liberty explains, Programming
C# is a tutorial, both on C# and on writing .NET applications with C#.
"You learn C# specifically to create .NET applications," says Liberty.
"Pretending otherwise would miss the point of the language. Thus, this
book does not consider C# in a vacuum but places the language firmly in
the context of Microsoft's .NET platform and in the development of
desktop and Internet applications."
With the recent release of Beta 2 of C#, developers who have waited to
see how the language would take shape can now get down to the business
of programming in it. Liberty calls it a critical moment in the
adoption of C# and .NET, "Beta 2 is a stabile product, and Microsoft
assures us that the changes to version 1 will be restricted to bug
fixes. Developers are eager to learn this new technology now, and it is
the time when judgments about it are being made."
"Frankly, I think C# is one of the most important developments in 10
years," Liberty adds. "I expect C# to become the development language
of choice for Windows development, and one of the two most important
languages (alongside Java) for Web development. Microsoft has 'bet the
company' on .NET, and C# is the fulcrum of their .NET efforts."
Programming
C# was written for programmers who want to develop
applications for the .NET platform and assumes some previous
programming experience, most likely C++, Java or VB. However, readers
who have experience with other programming languages and readers who
have no specific programming experience but who have worked with HTML
and other web technologies will also find the book useful.
"This book does not attempt to duplicate the extensive documentation
already available from Microsoft," says Liberty. "My goal with
'Programming C#' was to tell the story of programming in C#, to guide
the reader through the most important aspects of the language and the
frameworks and provide a solid grounding from which they can continue
to learn and experiment."
Online Resources:
Programming
C#
By Jesse Liberty
ISBN 0-596-00117-7, 658 pages, $39.95 (US)
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
