C# Primer:
A Practical Approach

• Covers fundamentals such as namespaces, exception handling, and unified type system
• Presents a wide-ranging tour of the .NET class library, introducing ADO.NET and establishing database connections and the use of XML
• Provides XML programming using the firehose and DOM parser models, XSLT, XPATH, and schemas
• Focuses on ASP.NET Web Form Designer, walking through the page life-cycle and caching, and providing a large number of examples.
• Introduces .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR)

My general strategy in presenting the material is to introduce a programming task and then walk through one or two implementations, introducing language features or aspects of the class framework as they prove useful. The goal is to motivate how to use the language and class framework to solve problems rather than to simply list language features and the class framework API.Learning C# really is a two-step process, and that process is reflected in the organization of this text. In the first step, we walk through the language--both its mechanisms, such as class and interface inheritance and delegates, and its underlying concepts, such as its unified type system, reference vs. value types, boxing, and so on. This is covered in first four chapters. The second step is to become familiar with the .NET class framework, in particular with windows and web programming and the support for XML. This is the focus of the second half of the book. Working your way through the text should jump start your C# programming skills. In addition, you'll become familiar with a good swatch of the .NET class framework. All the program code is available for download at www.objectwrite.com , my company's Web site. Mail can be sent to me directly at slippman@objectwrite.com .

Organization of the Book

The first chapter covers the basic language, as well as some of the fundamental classes provided within the class framework. The discussion is driven by the design of a small program. Concepts such as namespaces, exception handling, and the unified type system are introduced.

The second chapter covers the fundamentals of building classes. We look at access permission, distinguish between const and readonly members, and cover access methods such as indexers and properties. We walk through the different strategies of member initialization, as well as the rules for operator overloading and conversion operators. We look at the delegate type, which serves as a kind of universal pointer to function.

The third and fourth chapters cover, in turn, class and interface inheritance. Class inheritance allows us to define a family of specialized types that override a generic interface, such as an abstract WebRequest base class and a protocol-specific HttpWebRequest subtype.

Interface inheritance, on the other hand, allows us to provide a common service or shared attribute for otherwise unrelated types. For example, the IDisposable interface provides a service to free resources. Classes holding data base connections or window handles are both likely to implement IDisposable although they are otherwise unrelated.

Chapter 5 provides a wide-ranging tour of the .NET class library. We look at input and output, including file and directory manipulation, regular expressions, sockets and thread programming, the WebRequest and WebResponse class hierarchies, a brief introduction to ADO.NET and establishing data base connections, and the use of XML. The sixth and seventh chapters cover, in turn, drag and drop Windows Forms and Web Forms development. Chapter 7 focuses on ASP.NET, and the web page lifecycle. Both chapters provide lots of examples of using the pre-built controls and attaching event handlers for user interaction.

The final chapter provides a programmer's introduction to the .NET Common Language Runtime. It focuses on the assembly, type reflection, and attributes, and concludes with a brief look at the underlying intermediate language that is the compilation target of all .NET languages.

Written for Programmers

Some people--some very bright people--argue that, under .NET, the programming language is secondary to the underlying Common Language Runtime (CLR) upon which the languages float like the continents on tectonic plates. I don't agree. Language is how we express ourselves, and the choice of one's language impacts the design of our programs. The underlying assumption of this book is that C# is the preferred language for .NET programming.

Lexical Conventions

Resources

Another rich source of information about .NET are the featured articles and columns in the MSDN magazine. I'm always impressed by what I find in it each issue. You can find it online at The DOTNET mailing list sponsored by DevelopMentor is a rich source of information. You can subscribe to it at .

Anything Jeffrey Richter, Don Box, Aaron Skonnard, or Jeff Prosise writes about .NET (or XML in Aaron's case) should be considered essential reading. Currently, most of their writing has appeared only as articles in MSDN magazine.

Here is the collection of books that I have referenced or found helpful.

Essential XML, Beyond Markup, by Don Box, Aaron Skonnard, and John Lam, Addison-Wesley, 2000.
A Programmer's Introduction to C#, by Eric Gunnerson, Apress, 2000. Active Server Pages+, by Richard Anderson, Alex Homer, Rob Howard, and Dave Sussman, Wrox Press, 2000.
Microsoft C# Language Specification, Microsoft Press, 2001.C# Essentials, by Ben Albahari, Peter Drayton, and Brad Merrill, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 2001.
C# Programming, by Burton Harvey, Simon Robinson, Julian Templeman, and Karli Watson, Wrox Press, 2000.

Preface

1: Hello, C<35>

2: Class Design

3: Object-Oriented Programming

4: Interface Inheritance

5: Exploring the System Namespace

6: Windows Forms Designer

7: ASP.NET and Web Forms Designer

8: The Common Language Runtime

Index