Head First C#: A Learner's Guide to Real-World Programming with C#, XAML, and .NET

I am now on page 332 of this book. I picked the book up around 12 days ago. This book is HANDS DOWN my FAVORITE text book I've ever read. EVER... Just open the book up and look... Unlike most boring computer programming books, this one has TONS of drawings, notes, captions, pictures, and other intriguing little tid-bits on EVERY SINGLE PAGE. I've never seen a text-book that is jam-packed with as many little side-notes, useful hints, and illustrations. The authors of this book clearly consulted professional research when they wrote the blueprint for how this book was going to be presented. Another extremely important thing is... It's accurate. VERY accurate. Despite the book being written in 2013, I am using Visual Studio 2015 and have yet to encounter any problems whatsoever. The authors provided workarounds for version differences in the appendix but you barely even have to use them. If you do, they are written just as well, with all of the same illustrations, as the main pages in the book. I haven't even seen ONE little typo in this book, which is extremely important for a programming guide. Great job! Honestly, this book has pretty much left me speechless otherwise... It's THAT good. I haven't programmed a single line of code since I was 13 years old, I'm now 27 and I read half the book in a couple weeks and completed every exercise so far. Thanks to this book, I am easily able to write up my own code and understand most people's code. But perhaps the best part of the book is not that it teaches you C#... It teaches you how to THINK like programmer. Being a programmer is much more than just knowing the language. This book teaches you how to draw up class diagrams, plan out your programs with optimal structure, and most importantly, it gives you assignments and you have to FIGURE THEM OUT. This is how programming professionally is. It's not reading some boring book, memorizing syntax, and then just toying around. You have to be able to convert someone else's ideas and designs into a working product and that is what this book has you doing. I see some negative reviews on here... I honestly don't get it. Yeah, maybe if you're a seasoned programmer you may not like it because it may bore you. But if you're a seasoned programmer, what the heck are you doing buying a book entitled "Head First C#" in the first place? Clearly, this book is written for beginners. This book would also benefit experienced programmers who are new to objected-oriented programming. I would not buy this book solely to use as a reference, it is not written as a reference. Instead, you'd be better getting C# 6.0 in a Nutshell: The Definitive Reference .

Head First C# is a great book, great tutor and great friend. I learned more about the language using this book than I did taking a semester course. It offers clear, concise instruction with thoughtful and interesting exercises. The book's innovative layout is engaging. Learning the language is fun! Like good teachers in a classroom, the authors really want their readers (students) to learn C# and have fun doing it. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is serious about wanting to learn this language and has the time and motivation to accomplish their goal. Other reviews noted that the book is out of date or that Windows 8 is required. I disagree; the book is about as current as it can be. Yes, Microsoft has released the 2013 version of Visual Studio, and the book references the 2012 version, but the differences are minor. Yes, the first few chapters are provided for WIN8 users, but they have a doable workaround for other Windows versions which was fine for me. If you have a Kindle or iPad, then it is easy to read the supplement PDF while working in the book. If you want to learn C#, then it is simple: buy Head First C#!

I used to hate all of the "silly" books ("...for Dummies," "...for Idiots," "...in 24 Hours," etc.) on programming. Then I tried "Head First Java" and discovered that there is a difference between "silly" and "appealing." The publishers claim these books incorporate new teaching methods grounded in recent, but established, psychology. (You know, the same claim textbook writers make to justify charging college students hundreds of dollars for new editions of their works every year, even though maybe three pages will actually change from one to the next; this time it's true, but you aren't getting reamed on the price for it). I have to admit they do seem to have found a way to communicate complex subject matter without ignoring important features, while still making it fun and (more importantly) effective reading. As a recent convert from Java to C# (and from about a dozen languages before Java), I have developed the humility necessary to at least skim the parts of the books I use to learn new languages that cover the "obvious" stuff (like the difference between a short and long). But, by doing so in this book, I have found that there are a few C# specifics one might otherwise miss. Yet, the book is so well structured that a real skim (looking each page over, without either reading the whole thing nor just flipping inattentively) tends to be what it takes to find them. So, even though this book is clearly intended to be useful to a beginning programmer, I'd recommend it to someone crossing over from another language. They left out threading, unsafe, and native code, which is fine for a beginner's book. But I have to give it one star off of perfection because it would be possible to include them and they just didn't. Still a very good book.

Windows 8, Windows Store Apps - I'll pass. I purchased this book with a few others at the same time. My OS HDD crashed with Windows 8.1 about a week later and I had to reinstall everything. During the installation process of Windows 8 and upgrade to 8.1, the system and OS went belly up again, so I decided to reimage with Windows 7 and be done with it. Once completed and done with my other books, I went to tackle this C# book finally, and realized that this book wants you *NEEDS YOU* to have Windows 8 installed, as the first exercise and chapter of this book is entirely based on you making a Windows Store App. The version of Visual Studio you need is unavailable on Windows 7, so I would have to step back into the gloomy arena of trying to go back to an OS that just killed over 2x on me within the last week, when honestly, I just don't have the time and really didn't want to have to upgrade my OS just to follow along with a book on C#. I want to pick up a book, and start coding... and the fact that Windows 8 is pretty much a prereq to get going and started on the right page was something I could not look past. I also wasn't every interested in creating a game or Store APP to start. I wanted to learn the ins and outs of C# from statements-to clauses, namespaces, methods, loops and more, while this book wanted me to get back on Windows 8 and create a Windows Store Apps and play with Invading Aliens. While this may be extremely beneficial and a great way to get into C# (I loved their HTML book) this book just took too many liberties for me to be able to follow along and I was turned off as I am totally opposed to going back to WIndows 8.1 (I'd rather do the Windows 10 preview, or just flat out Install Linux Destro, then mess back around with 8.1.) If you are on Windows 8 and like the Head First style I believe that this is a good resource. However, I am literally looking for something more mature and technical, and doesn't require me to be on Windows 8 right now, as I would rather go to other options then back to 8.1 (And this is someone who is a Microsoft Head, 8.1 was extremely kind to me other than the crashes.) K.I.S.S --- While I am not opposed to giving this a fair go if I decide to spin up a Windows 8 VM again, I'd much rather just find another resource, go to technet, pluralsight, and find another resource then upgrade back to 8.1 They make the exercises available as a separate download for people on Windows 7, but that takes away the ability to learn the material at work and while I am out and about on my mobile devices as well.

This is a great book that 200 pages in is still current / valid using Visual Studio 2015 Community, C# 6.0, and Windows 10. Many reviews are pointing out that there's too many references to windows store apps and the exercises aren't working. This is covered in the appendix, where it goes over the WPA framework instead of Windows Store app. I really enjoy the progression the book. You can't really flip to a random page and start reading, and need to work your way through it. An intermediate programmer could probably make it through about 30 pages an hour, and it gives you a good foundation. If you are completely new to programming, I suggest some supplemental materials, such as searching youtube for "C# application creation" that walks you through the form design, and using intellisense. Lynda.com also has some of the best overview courses I've seen for explaining Object Oriented programming,and basic programming fundamentals on loops.

I have the paper version of this book and got sick of carrying it around, to and from work etc. etc. (Software Engineer by trade). I bought this Kindle version so that I can read the book anywhere, plus its nice to have on my surface pro 3 as a reference for when I am coding. I started learning how to code with this book and paired with the work experience I am getting it is a powerful tool in becoming a better programmer. I highly recommend it, the way that they walk you through things made it easier for me to learn.

I like the idea behind Head First C#, which is to immerse the reader in programming right off the bat. But the book didn't really work for me. Pros: Easy to read, and exercises tend to be fun (when you can complete them). Cons: The downside of starting the reader out quickly is that a lot of essential topics are glossed over; as a result, I found I had no idea how to write a functional program even after reading the first couple of chapters. The exercises quickly went from too easy to impossible. Eventually I was skipping them entirely. Finally I realized I wasn't actually learning anything and needed to try a different approach. Eventually I may come back to this one, if nothing else to try the exercises. But I've made much more progress using Programming for Complete Beginners in C# on Udemy.com. The step-by-step explanation of various methods has helped me tremendously.

I recommend this book to any friends and well, anyone. I am only 13 years old and I can clearly understand this book very well. The way things are explained makes it not only fun, but also easy to learn C#. That is why I like this book.