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Preface

Every 10 years or so, a new technology arrives that changes the way we think about application development. In the early 1980s, the new technologies were Unix, which could be run on a desktop, and a powerful new language called C, developed by AT&T. The early '90s brought Windows and C++. Each development represented a sea change in the way we approached programming. In 2000, .NET and C# were the next wave, and .NET 2.0 completes the transition.

Microsoft has "bet the company" on .NET. When a company of its size and influence spends billions of dollars and reorganizes its entire corporate structure to support a new platform, programmers take notice. It turns out that .NET represents a major change in the way you'll think about programming. It is, in short, a new development platform designed to facilitate object-oriented Internet development. The programming language of choice for this platform is C#, which builds on the lessons learned from C (high performance), C++ (object-oriented structure), Java (garbage collection, high security), and Visual Basic (rapid development) to create a new language ideally suited for developing component-based, n - tier distributed web applications.

C# 2.0, the language of choice for .NET 2005, comes with updated tools and a powerful new development environment. It is the crowning achievement of Microsoft's R&D investment. It is wicked cool.

About This Book

This book is a tutorial, both on C# and on writing .NET applications with C#.

If you are a proficient C# 1.1 programmer, and all you want to know is what is new in C# 2.0, put this book down, and buy Visual C# 2005: A Developer's Notebook (O'Reilly Media, Inc.).

If, on the other hand, you want to brush up on your C# skills, or you are proficient in another programming language like C++ or Java, or even if this is your first programming language, then this book is for you.

What You Need To Use This Book

Starting with the Beta release of Visual Studio Whidbey (2005), Microsoft has made it much easier for you to get access to their works-in-progress. There are several options available to you: just as Visual Studio comes in many flavors, the prerelease versions of .NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005 come in many forms:

Download the SDK: The Beta SDK, which includes command-line compilers, documentation, and other tools, is available as a free download from http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/downloads/updates/default.aspx. This is a small download, but you'll need to bring your own code editor (anything from Notepad to SharpDevelop will do).
Express Editions: Microsoft has released stripped-down versions of Visual Studio that are small downloads, so you can get up and running quickly. You can download the Express Editions from http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/. Use Visual C# Express for most of the examples in this book. You'll need Visual Web Developer Express for some of the examples, and you'll need to install SQL Server Express or MSDE (Microsoft Data Engine) for some of the ADO.NET examples.
Beta and Community Tech Preview: Microsoft has also made full versions of Visual Studio 2005 available for download. These come in two forms: Community Technology Preview (CTP), which are somewhat rough around the edges, and full-fledged beta releases. At the time of this writing, CTPs is available to MSDN subscribers for Visual Studio Professional, Standard, and Team System. Beta 1 of Visual Studio Professional is also available to MSDN subscribers and to nonsubscribers for the cost of shipping. For more information, see http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/get/default.aspx.
Mono: The Mono Project is an open source development platform based on .NET. It's sponsored by Novell, and runs on Linux, Mac OS X, and other operating system. Although the current version is targeted at .NET 1.1, you can choose to install it with support for some .NET 2.0 features. For more information, see http://www.mono-project.com/about/index.html.

Programming C# , Fourth Edition, will work with any of these environments. However, because each one is at a slightly different version level, some screenshots may differ from what you see. In short, your mileage may vary.

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