Which C# 4.0 Book would you purchase, and why?

Question

I'm currently looking at purchasing a few C# 4.0 books, namely:

Essential C# 4.0 by Mark Michaelis or C# 4.0 Unleashed by Bart De Smet.

I am aware that both books are yet to be released, but would you consider purchasing either of these books, or would you recommend another?

Thanks for your time.

Clarification:

I'm not a .net Ninja, but I do have 8+ years experience with the framework & related languages. So I'm generally looking for in-depth books. I also train/instruct the rest of my organisation generally 6 - 12 months after each .net release. Each of the developers I train has the same or more .net experience then myself.

Once again thank you all for your time.

Update:

Thank you everyone for your responses. I've decided to purchase both books along with Visual C# 2010 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach, as suggested by Waleed Al Balooshi.

Answer 1

The devil you know is better than the devil you don't: Mark Michaelis has published several books, mostly on C#, while de Smet seems to have only this title to his name. I'd go with Michaelis.

Answer 2

I would wait for Jon Skeet to write one and buy it.

Answer 3

It depends on what you are looking for? Do you want a beginners book or a more in-depth book? It also depends on the style of book you are looking for. Another one, also not released yet, is the upcoming Sams Teach Yourself Visual Studio 2010 in 24 Hours< (which is really focused on C# 4.0 rather than Visual Studio).

Answer 4

+1 for Bart de Smet. You can sample his writing by visiting his blog, which has been in my aggregator for years.

In the end, however, the most important thing is to find someone whose approach resonates with you.

Answer 5

If you're looking for suggestions for one particular good C# book, I would recommend a couple different books of your choice at the same time. You always get a good cross-section of knowledge that way because different authors use different analogies, have different angles on teaching, etc. It makes you wiser.

Additionally, supplement your book knowledge with materials and samples from the Internet like MSDN, CodeProject, etc. Some books have companion CDs.

Answer 6

I would prefer book of Microsoft publication (MOC) , BLACK BOOK and wrox publication book

Answer 7

I would recommend that you buy the MEAP (Early Access Edition) of Jon Skeet's C# in Depth 2nd edition, which is updated to include C# 4.0

In addition to this there is also:

1. C# 4.0 in a Nutshell: The Definitive Reference (Already Out)

Other than that I can't really say about the other books, because they aren't out yet, but I like the A Problem-Solution Series:

1. Visual C# 2010 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Not Out Yet)

I would wait till the books are out and you can read some reviews about them, till then I again highly recommend Jon Skeet's book.

Answer 8

I would go for Essential C# 4.0 because i already have a book by Mark Michaelis and it helped me alot.

Answer 9

I was the technical editor for Mark's book. I quite enjoyed it, it is well written, and accurate.

An interesting thing about the difference between Mark's book and Jon's book (for which I was also the technical editor) is that both of them have accurate titles. "C# in Depth" really does go into quite a lot of depth; Jon doesn't shy away from the abstruse or theoretical, though of course he always has an eye on the practical. Mark's book really is more about cutting to what is essential to understand in order to get the job done. Both approaches are valid and reasonable.

Bart is a smart guy and I would imagine his book is quite good; not having read it, I cannot offer a personal opinion one way or the other.

Answer 10

In full disclosure, I am an editor with Addison-Wesley/Pearson. C# books are not one size fits all. It depends on your level of experience, as well as your programming background (are you a Java developer wanting to learn C# or are you trying C# programming for the first time?). We are publishing a lot for the 4.0 release, which may seem like over publishing to an outsider, but consider these differences: Sams Teach Yourself Visual C# 2010 is a quick get “up-and-running” tutorial for the very beginner. No programming experience needed. Bill Wagner's Effective C# books are a healthy dose of hard-earned wisdom, advice, and tips for the intermediate to experienced C# developer. C# 4.0 How to is a “just-what-you-need-to-know” title that focuses on general explanations and teaching “essentials” to the working, intermediate-level developer. Mark Michaelis' popular "Essential C#" is a “start-to-finish” guide focused ONLY on the C# language (2.0, 3.0, and 4.0) for the beginner to intermediate developer while C# Unleashed is the comprehensive “everything but the kitchen sink” reference guide focused on C# and .NET for the intermediate developer. Finally the Deitel's publish a lot of textbook C# for the academic community. I will also vouch for Jon Skeet's C# books. He is very knowledgeable and well regarded in the community. Whatever you decide, I would recommend taking a look at sample chapters that publishers release to see what approach/author best meets your needs.

Answer 11

It depends on what you need from the book.

• If you want to push C# to newcomers, you might want to try O'Reilly's Programming C# 4.0 or Beginning C# 4.0 from Wrox.
• If you're looking for a language drill-down, then you've already got C# in Depth on order, but I would consider Bart de Smet's book as well as another c# stunt coder, given his blog.
• If you're looking for more real-world applications, I'd highly recommend Bill Wagner's Effective C# which is being updated for C# 4.0. This is one of the books that sits on my desk almost all the time. I really like it.

Answer 12

I would wait until after April and look at blogs and podcasts until then to be absolutely sure things don't change too much!

This book looks quite good for newcomers:

Introducing .NET 4.0: With Visual Studio 2010 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Introducing-NET-4-0-Visual-Studio/dp/143022455X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1265798479&amp;sr=8-1

I'll probably hold out till

Pro C# 2010 And The .NET 4.0 Platform 5th Edition (Andrew Troelsen) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1430225491/ref=s9_simi_gw_p14_t1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&amp;pf_rd_s=center-1&amp;pf_rd_r=1B44BHPWP93JTH087A55&amp;pf_rd_t=101&amp;pf_rd_p=467198433&amp;pf_rd_i=468294

Answer 13

Rule of thumb... never buy any programming book with "Unleashed", "n Hours", or "Bible" in the title.

Answer 14

Pro C# 2010 and the .NET 4.0 Platform

This is probably the only book you will need.