This is a beginning, or perhaps intermediate level book on Microsoft's C# (C-Sharp) programming language used with the Microsoft .NET framework. It covers both the C# language and .NET at a beginner level. It is intended to be usable to everyone from people who have never programmed before to C++ programmers who want to learn the differences Microsoft has put into C#, and as an introduction to the .NET library of code.

As a beginning book, the examples can be programmed using the simpler (and FREE) 'Express' versions of both C# and Visual Studio. The book begins with a discussion of Visual Studio and how to use it. From there it goes on to a very simple console application that simply writes one line of text to the screen. And as you might guess, by the end of the 778 page book, the programs have gotten somewhat more complex.

This kind of programming book covers almost exactly the same material of other beginning books on C#. I find that I like the tone, the style of writing, and the completeness of this book better than a lot of others.

This book will stuff you with many rules of the C# 2.0, but lamentably it does not teach how to use them. The programs are short and poor. Definitively this is not the form to teach a beginner how a programming language must be used. And the book doesn't explain the differences between C# 1.0 and C# 2.0, except a short chapter about generics.