Trying to absorb as much information about .NET and all its components, I picked this book up once I saw it. I think it does a good job of explaining some of the new aspects in C# like reflection, assemblies and manifests. It was a good read for C# information and touches on ASP.NET and ADO.NET as well. It contains lots of notes for folks who already know java or C++ to point out how C# is similiar or different to these languages. What I liked most about it is that it goes into using VS.NET to create applications with C#. It gives an introduction into WinForms, the CLR, Web Services, working with existing COM application and WebForms. Since it hits on so many areas, it doesn't have room to go too deeply into each, but it does give the reader a good overview. There are samples and source code to work with so that you can start experimenting with C# to develop .NET solutions. It's worth reading if you're looking to start programming with the VS.NET beta now.

This book covers a nice introductory overview of much of the syntax, environment, and usage of the C# language, the .NET structure and base classes, the VS.NET development environment, its use in ASP.NET, a bit on COM and COM+ interoperability, etc. -- most of the general aspects of the new C# programming language and its use. This book is NOT a serious programming course that will have you up and running in C# by itself; a somewhat thicker tome will likely be required for such ambition. It does make for a good survey intro for developers who want a lighter introduction or who perhaps haven't decided yet to go for the full C# deal, and can be followed up with a more in-depth text for the serious soon-to-be-C#ers.

Particularly interesting to C++ and Java developers will be the sporadically inserted C++ Notes and Java Notes: specific notes for people coming from C++ and Java about how a certain feature of C# relates to and/or differs from a similar feature in either or both of these languages. (Even as one not coming from either of these languages, I found these notes interesting and useful.)

The one significant drawback issue I had with this book is the few scattered barrages of odd or broken grammar, and the occasional seemingly contradictory statement. These weren't enough to detract heavily from the value of the book (IMO), but they were quite distracting in places, and should be addressed more seriously in any future editions of the book.

Overall, I'm satisfied with this book, and am looking forward to following it up with that more in-depth text....

In this world of mediorce technical books that echo available documentation, I have come to depend on Wrox Press, to provide books for actual working developers, that want to get their hands dirty. This book is no exception. The authors provide a very good overview of the .NET framework and the C# language in the first two chapters. Then its on to writing code in C#. Advanced topics in C# are covered well. Developing every day in this language and these technologies, I was still able to expand my knowledge nicely. Later chapters cover COM Interoperability, COM+ Services, ASP.NET and Web Services. This book provides much deeper detail and real code than previous books on C#. I would have liked to see more on the .NET Services and Libraries, which is very important as well as more detail on the IL language. However, this book serves its purpose quite well.

    Among the programming books that I have read, I have noticed that there tend to be two specific types: tutorials and references. Tutorials are step-by-step books (Deitel comes to mind) which progress from beginning to end comprehensively. References are simply books that you can look something up if needs be. With Professional C#, Wrox has managed to combine the two genres into a very workable format.

    A note to those who would opt for this book: There is a Beginning C# book by Wrox that would be more suited to those who have little background in programming. As for Professional, the only requirements that seem to be needed are a sound understanding of general programming practices. From there, the book explains itself. It helps by relating C# concepts to their Java, C++, and Visual Basic counterparts, so those with experience in those three fields will find this book a much easier text to read.

    Now on to the actual content of the book, all 1200-plus pages of it! The book starts out with a fairly in-depth analysis and explanation of what the .NET Framework is and why you should care at all. Through the next four chapters, the concepts, syntax, and Base Classes are introduced. This is where I believe the 'tutorial' part of the book comes in. Reading these chapters in order would be a wise thing to do, in my opinion as a somewhat-but-not-totally-experienced programmer. Each topic flows nicely into the next and provides easy and understandable reading, chock-full of examples and code-snippets. As I mentioned before, many of these topics are related back to Java, C++, and VB, making concepts easier to grasp.

    Once you have finished reading through those five chapters, the book in its entirety turns into a 'reference' book. There isn't any specific order you should read through. You can simply pick a topic and read up on it. Wrox offers a myriad of topics throughout the 23 chapters in the book including a tutorial of the Visual Studio .NET environment, working with C# on ASP.NET pages, other web services, graphics, remoting, security, and many more. The scope of the book is definitely large as Wrox attempts to cram in as much C# and .NET knowledge as is humanly possible.

    So is this book sufficient for programmers looking to get started with C#? Most definitely. This book is excellent as either a tutorial or a reference and covers nearly every topic you could imagine. However, it also has its problems.

    The main problem I have with this book is simply the fact that it has no class index. There is no place to just 'look up' what classes have what methods and properties and the such. In addition, when new classes are introduced throughout the text, many of the methods are given, but their signatures are not! The first example that comes to mind is the String class section in Chapter 5: The book lists a few of the methods of the String class (not all of them, however), but all they give are the names of the methods. How am I supposed to use these methods if I don't know how they work? Many of them are seemingly intuitive, and you can find all the information through Microsoft's MSDN, but many programmers these days want a book they can reference when they have a problem. The way that it is set up, this book would fail miserably at the task.

    Another problem is that the examples tend to be a little 'shallow'. The code snippets are definitely useful, but only after studying them for a few minutes to see exactly what is going on. The context of the examples could definitely be a lot better.

    Finally, just a minor little problem: There tends to be a more-than-necessary number of spelling and syntactical errors, the former more than the latter. While this isn't a huge problem, I encountered so many spelling and grammatical errors that I honestly believe that running it through Word's spell and grammar checkers probably would have alleviated many of the problems. The syntax errors are few and far between, but they are still evident. With a book that is over 1200 pages in size with as many authors as this has, it is definitely acceptable to have these kinds of mistakes. But I still believe it could have been edited a bit more thoroughly.

    Despite its few faux pas, the book as a whole is an excellent resource that any and every C# programmer should have. Even without full class and method signatures, using the book as a reference is easy to do and should be done. It covers many topics in-depth that other C# books have failed to mention, especially when it comes to web services and programming. Professional C# 2nd Edition is certainly on my recommended list.

I am enjoying this book so much that I thought I'd write a review about how I felt about this book. The second edition of Professional C# is really an excellent piece of work. The authors have done a real good job covering a wide range of topics. Not only did I get to learn the basics of the C# language, but the book took me well into the depths of the .NET framework class library. The book starts with a thorough explanation on what the .NET framework and the CLR is all about and where C# as a language fits in. The C# language is introduced in 3 detailed chapters - The basics of the language, Object oriented features in the language, and advanced topics on C#. These chapters had some really nice examples and gave me a strong foundation in understanding the constructs of the language. This is followed by an introduction to the core classes in the framework and how to put them to use. From then on, there are 18 more great chapters covering the framework class library in detail right from writing Windows Forms Applications, Data access with ADO.NET, Controls and Data binding, how to work with the XML classes in the framework, ASP.NET, COM(+) interoperability techniques, GDI+, Web Services, Remoting, Security, Windows services, ADSI etc., You name it and there's probably a topic on the subject covered in sufficient detail to get you up and running. It's hard to pack such exhaustive content all into one book, but they've done a great job at that. Overall, I am very happy with the book and it's well worth the money I spent for this 1220 page tome.

This book is packed with knowledge. Every page is worth its weight in gold. I read it from cover to cover. Re-doing EVERY exercise manually. Trust me, I know what I'm saying.

I worked with the 1st Edition. Took me 8 months to finish the book thorougly. Yes there is some mistakes and typos. But if you understand the text, you can correct these mistakes easily. As a reward, the exercises I redo is always better than the book's ones.

Some persons complaint that there's too much authors resulting in style discrepancy and the chapters slightly overlap their introduction. Yes it's true. And I found that it's rather a GREAT advantage. Just because each author gives you the best of their expertise. Do you think an author of ASP.NET could give you detailed explanation all the intricacies of the C# & .NET runtime environment?

The repetition of some concepts is not really a waste, this book is advanced. I found that it's rather good. Actually, I found this book doesn't have enough pages. Sometime I can't do better than 3 pages a day.

The chapters related to the .NET and C# language fundamental (Chapter 1 to 10) and advanced techniques (File IO, ASDI, COM+, GDI+, .NET Remoting, Windows Services and Security) are simply wonderful. They represent +80% of the book. I rated the ADO.NET and XML chapters 4 stars. The weakest part is ASP.NET, Web Services. I wish the author had choosen a simpler example and add may be few more chapters. The chapter on Custom Control is OK. In anyway, I can't blame the author, to get serious on ASP.NET, you'd rather buy a specific book.

I particularly like the side notes and the Appendix giving a background comparison C# and traditional languages (C++, Java, VB).

If you expect from this book a collection of recipes of code ready for cut and paste, then you will be likely disappointed. This book is for those who are willing to LEARN. The C# language and OOP concept itself is not that difficult. It's rather the .NET Framework itself and how to use wisely the wealth of its base classes.

One reviewer said "too many authors who don't know their stuff". Not true, while I was redoing the exercise, I perceived the style of each of them. Generally they're good. And when needed, the authors answer to my emails. I'm an experienced programmer, when something is bad, I can see it easily.

I come from a VB + ASP background, thanks to this book, I now have a pretty solid knowledge of .NET and a pure style C# programmer. I have had hard time to grasp the whole stuff but now I can tell you that I'm happy to leave the VB world.

I wholeheartly recommend this book to anyone who want to learn C# _AND_ how to make useful application with it. Be courageous, spend some time, you won't be disappointed.

I bought this book to get up to speed on the C# language since my company is going the .NET route. I got it last week and have read the first 200 pages and I have to say that it is one of the worst written technical books I have ever seen as far as the grammar, typos and code examples - and I have a ton of technical books - being a developer for 8 years. There are typos everywhere - not just in the code samples but the actual wording in the book, some code examples work but alot of them don't - If you've been writing code for awhile you can stumble through them - but if you're a beginner or not real comfortable with OO design steer clear...

I've always thought Wronx books were good and most are but this is definately an exception. I give it 2 stars because it gives you a decent overview of the language. You can eat the meat and spit out the bones but there has to be a better C# book out there.

The title is a bit misleading. This book is much more than C#. It includes very valuable highlights of the .NET framework. This parallels books like "Inside Visual C++" whose value is its coverage of using VC++ with MFC.

Pretty good chapters: Chapters 2 - 6 covers all the elements of the C# language. There are a couple times they talk about performance implications-i.e. virtual methods-but the emphasis is on the syntax of C#. Ideally, there would have been more detail-perhaps in a separate chapter-on performance implications. Chapter 10 is about assemblies. This chapter is very good and cleared up a lot that the MS documentation wasn't clear on. Chapter 19 and 20 are on COM+ interaction with .NET-although I was hoping for more. Chapter 25 was about .NET security and was pretty good.

So-so chapters: They also have high-level overviews creating projects in VS .NET, basic .NET concepts (collections, regular expressions, etc), programming windows applications, ADO.NET, Active Directory, ASP.NET, Custom Controls and Windows Services. The chapter on distributed applications was ok-but left a lot to be desired and needs to be organized better.

There are a lot of typos and errors; but it was very easy to figure out what they meant.

Bottom line: This is currently the best C# and .NET book out there. The MS authored documentation is good, but this book is FAR superior.

It's one of the best C# and .NET Framework introductions, but the problem is that, due to the extent of the subject, all the books that try to cover the whole .NET Framework in a single (even if big) volume are missing the point from a professional programmer point of view.
To have all you need to fully understand the .NET Framework it's absolutely essential to have a collection of books that cover every single topic in detail and they are appearing now.
If you want to save money and buy a good introduction especially about C# or you are an experienced programmer that ventures out to .NET and C# for the first time then it could be a good purchase, otherwise it's better to focus on the topics you are looking for and buy more specialized publications. A professional programmer could find it a little superficial in some parts and due to the usual hurry of Wrox Press to be first on target a little disjointed in others.