Review: Visual C# 2008 in 24 Hours

Even though were a few months into 2013 and Visual Studio 2012 has been out for a year, I picked up James Foxall's Visual C# 2008 as a quick way to start working with C# for a job-related assignment. I have a ton of C, C++, and Java experience, but no experience with C# and I haven't worked with the Visual Studio IDE's in quite a while. I needed a jump start into the language and IDE, and that's what I got.

One concern I had was how relevant the book would be, considering that it is five years old and is specific to a two-versions-old edition of Visual Studio. It turns out that it wasn't a problem at all. The visual style of the IDE has changed a little, but the locations and names of the elements have not. The code samples all compiled and ran without modification. In one of the later chapters, he covers code automation using Microsoft Word and Excel. He coded for Office 2007, but I ran these samples against Office 2010 without a problem.

One possible age-related problem is that the link to the sample code given in the text is no longer correct. You can find it at both http://www.informit.com/content/images/9780672329845/examples/Examples.zip and http://www.jamesfoxall.com/downloads/TYCS2008samples.zip. With the exception of a couple of images used in the projects, I didn't find this file very helpful. After all, learning to code is not a spectator sport and if you're just copying code samples, then you're not doing it right.

As for the book, it's fairly well laid out and it does quite a bit of hand holding. It assumes very little coding experience. As is the case with all of the books in Sams Teach Yourself ___ in 24 Hours series, it is split up into 24 chapters, or "hours". Not a single hour took me the full hour to complete. Some took as little as fifteen minutes and most averaged around 30-45 minutes.

There is a good deal of breadth in the text (but not a lot of depth). The book covers Visual Studio and designing applications graphically, objected oriented programming, basic programming techniques (like if-statements and for-loops), manipulating the registry, managing files, working with databases, controlling other applications with automation, and creating an installer. Of course, none of these subjects is covered in much detail. For example, the database chapter assumes that someone else has designed a database for you; the text only shows you how to pull records out and insert new ones.

For me, the book was exactly what I needed. An experienced programmer who wants a jump-start into C# development will find what they need here. If this is you, I would suggest that you just skip chapters 10 through 14; oddly he places the basic programming techniques here in the middle of the text. This book is supposedly geared toward new programmers, but I think being thrown into the deep end for the first 200 pages and only then being told what a for-loop is would be confusing. It's an odd choice and for that reason, I wouldn't recommend this book if you don't already know the basics.