.NET Programming Books

These books cover important .NET programming languages. There are also surveys of the .NET Framework from the perspective of particular programming languages.

Introductory .NET Language Books

The first set of books teaches several of the important .NET languages. These books cover their language from the ground up and have no prerequisite other than programming experience in some language. Unlike many .NET language books, which are a mixture of the language and topics in the .NET Framework, these books are focused on the languages, with attention to important interactions between the language and the framework. By concentrating on the languages, these books have much more detail and many more practical examples than similar books.

The languages selected are the new language C#, the greatly changed VB.NET, and the open source language ported to the .NET environment, PerlNET. Visual C++ .NET is covered in our intermediate book, and JScript .NET is covered in Fundamentals of Web Applications Using .NET and XML .

Introduction to C# Using .NET

This book gives thorough coverage of the C# language from the ground up. The book is organized with a specific section covering the parts of C# common to other C-like languages. This section can be cleanly skipped by programmers with C experience or the equivalent, making for a good reading path for a diverse group of readers. The book gives thorough attention to the object-oriented aspects of C# and thus serves as an excellent book for programmers migrating to C# from Visual Basic or COBOL. Its gradual pace and many examples make the book an excellent candidate as a college textbook for adventurous professors looking to teach C# early in the language's life cycle.

Introduction to Visual Basic Using .NET

This book gives thorough coverage of the VB.NET language from the ground up. Like the companion book on C#, this book gives thorough attention to the object-oriented aspects of VB.NET. Thus the book is excellent for VB programmers migrating to the more sophisticated VB.NET, as well as programmers experienced in languages such as COBOL. This book would also be suitable as a college textbook.

Programming Perl in the .NET Environment

A very important part of the vision behind Microsoft .NET is that the platform is designed from to support multiple programming languages from many sources, and not just Microsoft languages. This book, like other books in the series, is rooted in long experience in industrial teaching. It covers the Perl language from the ground up. Although oriented toward the ActiveState PerlNET compiler, the book also provides excellent coverage of the Perl language suitable for other versions as well.

Intermediate .NET Framework Survey Books

The second set of books is focused on topics in the .NET Framework, rather than on programming languages. Three parallel books cover the .NET Framework using the important languages C#, VB.NET, and Visual C++. The C# and VB.NET books contain self-contained introductions to the languages suitable for experienced programmers, allowing them to rapidly come up to speed on the new languages without having to plow through an introductory book.

The design of the series makes these books much more targeted than many similar books. The language emphasis is cleanly broken out into introductory books, allowing the intermediate books to cover the important topics of the .NET Framework in greater depth. The series design also makes for flexible reading paths. Less experienced readers can read the language book followed by the intermediate framework book, while more experienced readers can go directly to the intermediate framework book.

Application Development Using C# and .NET

This book covers important topics in the .NET Framework for experienced programmers. The reader does not need prior experience in C#, because there is a self-contained treatment, but the reader should have experience in some object-oriented language such as C++ or Java. A seasoned Visual Basic programmer who has experience working with objects and components in VB could also read the book. A less experienced reader coming from the introductory C# book can skip the chapters on C# and proceed directly to a study of the Framework. The book is practical, with many examples and a major case study. The goal is to equip the reader to begin building significant applications using the .NET Framework.

Application Development Using Visual Basic and .NET

This book is for the experienced VB programmer who wishes to quickly learn the new VB.NET version of VB and then get on to learning the .NET Framework. It is also suitable for experienced enterprise programmers in other languages who wish to learn the powerful RAD-oriented Visual Basic language in its .NET incarnation and go on to build applications. Like the companion C# book, this book is very practical with many examples, and the same case study is implemented in VB.NET.

.NET Architecture and Programming Using Visual C++

This parallel book is for the experienced Visual C++ programmer who wishes to learn the .NET Framework to build high performing applications. Unlike the C# and VB.NET book, there is no coverage of the C++ language itself, because C++ is too complex to cover in a brief space. This book is specifically for experienced C++ programmers. Like the companion C# and VB.NET books, this book is very practical with many examples, and it uses the same case study implemented in Visual C++.