How to stop worrying about using the best materials and just start learning .Net?

Question

For the past few years whenever I learn something I tend to spend way too much time researching on the best materials for the subject than actually studying it. What should I do to get over this mentality? I am stuck. How to stop worrying about getting or using the BEST books, training videos and online materials on .net and just start learning?

Answer 1

There is no single best resource on anything. The best way to learn is to practice. Get any book to get yourself started. Then just start writing some code at home. Play with the language and the platform. Read blogs, browse the questions here. You will start discovering and learning nuggets of information.

Others mentioned buying Visual Studio 2008. It can be an expensive investment although it is totally worth it if you are a independent developer/consultant. However, if you just need something to get you started with coding, get the free Visual C# Express. You can always grow into the professional SKUs when you need it.

Answer 2

Start doing a project with a deadline. You will code and learn together. If you cannot do that at work, think of a hobby project with some real requirements (like building a photo sharing site).

Answer 3

1) Stop researching 2) Start programming

Seriously, the only book you need to program in .NET is CLR Via C# by Jeffrey Richter. Read it cover to cover (save the first couple chapters until you've read the rest, btw), and start coding. When you hit stuff you have problems with (Linq, WPF, source control, unit testing), come here.

Answer 4

• Buy visual studio 08, devise a small project, and complete it.
• Make a deadline for yourself and don't push it back.
• Buy a basic C# book for reference, don't worry about which one.

You can do it!

Answer 5

Firstly, don't beat yourself up for not having done things the right way before, as I'm sure you know, there never is a right way. Also, some of that searching for the best resources will pay for itself when you have a better understanding of things than the next guy. And, as has already been said, do a project, pick something harder than the usual, trivial examples, so that you have to think and ask questions and do some research. Finally, if you have a blog then post about what you are up to, that way you'll have more of a sense of a commitment to stay working on the project rather than bailing out as it gets hard, especially as that is usually the time when you are about to actually learn something (this works for me anyway!)

Answer 6

1. Go download Visual Studio Express

   http://www.microsoft.com/Express/

2. Go buy one of the following books:

   ASP.NET 3.5 Step by Step

   C# 2008 Step by Step

   VB.NET 2008 Step by Step

From my experience (when I first started with .NET back in the 1.0 days) the Step by Step books from Microsoft are the best at just starting out and getting your feet wet with .NET.

Answer 7

I completely agree on the just start coding philosophy. Another idea for a project is to go through the Project Euler exercises. They are somewhat simple math problems that get progressively harder. It is great if you can not think of a project or only have a little bit of time. Then just use a reference book, or the internet to learn what you need to about the language specifics.

Answer 8

When you work at a new job, you learn a lot because you have great individuals who transfer a lot of knowledge they find useful. You can review how they do things, which parts are done well and which parts are done poorly.

Learning by isolation is hard especially when there are so many resources out there.

I recommend connecting with individuals in your local community user group or an online group, or start your own group. Many of these individuals will have had real-world experience and can help direct your learning path more effectively.

Answer 9

Find an area of .Net you'd like to use, e.g. console Applications, Windows Applications, ASP.Net applications, web services, and just build a few little "getting your feet wet" sort of things like the basic "Hello World!" example or doing some simple computations or using an MS-SQL back-end if you do get SQL Express or the richer versions.

Don't forget that if you don't get in, some things may pass you by. How many ASP.Net 1.0 or 1.1 apps are out there using older systems that you may not be familiar with yet may be an incentive to start doing rather than trying to find the BEST that will be out of date in a few years. Take some of the ideas from a book like "Refactoring" by Martin Fowler if you want to program something a little bigger than the simple "Hello World!" program.

Answer 10

Download Visual C# Express 2008. Google for intro tutorials. Dig in and explore yourself.

This URL is all you need to get started with .NET: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/aa336768.aspx?wt.slv=RightRail

If you want mastery of .NET, there a lot of different ideas, but only one official self-education track. Get the official MCTS / MCPD training guides from Microsoft Press. These are searchable on Amazon by Exam number, such as Exam 70-536. But as long as you know how to Google for questions and tutorials, you don't need much else.

Answer 11

The best way is learn by doing!