Can you recommend a good C# windows programming book (for Java developer)

Question

Hi

I'm looking for a good C# programming book that discusses Windows programming - UI, forms, office plugins etc - for developers (lots of Java experience).

Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

Well, you could always pick up the book by Charles Petzold http://www.charlespetzold.com/winforms/

Office Plugins is a whole different beast all together, as you will need to learn about VSTO, various Object Models of the different Office Applications, etc.

Answer 2

Programming C#, by Jesse Liberty (O'Reilly)

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596527433/

This book actually highlights specific gotchas that developers coming from other languages should be aware of.

Answer 3

You may want to get several books. You may want a good primer. There are books on C# tailored to Java developers. I couldn't recommend one, because I was never a Java guy. Once you get comfortable with C# the language, you might want to get the Wrox C# book. It covers an intro on pretty much everything, like web forms, win forms, web services, etc. You might also want to get a book specializing in Winforms.

Also, if you are going to go into Client/Server programming, you may want to skip right to WPF. Adam Nathan's book is the best or this. I emphasize maybe here, because depending on where you are at, WPF adoption might not be huge.

I can recommend a few podcasts/screen casts for .Net developers.

.Net Rocks and dnrtv are an absolute must. I think that they even have old shows that compare Java and .Net, but these may be really old. Hanselminutes is also great, as well as Deep Fried Bytes, Thirsty Developer, Herding Code, and the Alt.Net podcast.

Answer 4

You should likely be looking in to a couple of books.

For C# language basics, I would recommend ( Java and C# are pretty much the same as far as the syntax is concerned ) the O Reilly Programming C# by Jesse Liberty.

For Windows Forms programming, I would recommend Windows Forms 2.0 Programming by Chris Sells and Michael Weinhardt (ISBN 0-321-26796-6)

For Office Programming, I once used the book "Visual Studio Tools for Office: Using C# With Excel, Word, Outlook, and Infopath", and I found it to be very helpful. http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Studio-Tools-Office-Development/dp/0321334884

Besides, The following threads have some really useful information. Check the posts by Microsoft MVPs (Microsft Valued Programmers) and MSFT employees.

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/csharpgeneral/thread/203b575e-05bd-4ce3-8bac-43cdbf0de29f/

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1636716&SiteID=1

Thanks.

Answer 5

If you are interested in learning DotNet and C# fundamentals first then I can highly recommend CLR via C# by Richter. This really is a must-read for anyone who wants to have a true understanding of how C# works!

Answer 6

I'd recommend Pro C# 2008 & .Net3.5 Platform for anyone getting into c#.