The past few years has seen a rapid growth in both the .NET platform and the C# language. Microsoft speeded up its release cadence and has made dozens of announcements about new frameworks, language features, and versions to keep up with the changing developer ecosystem, to improve productivity, and to stay relevant.
We, the developers, have a life long passion for learning.
Learning about new tools, language features and new platforms helps us succeed at work, improve our productivity, and enables us to make informed decisions at our workplace, and in our projects.
And if you are a .NET programmer, there is always something new to learn.
But it is also a fact that the amount of time we spend everyday at work, on meetings, phone calls, answering emails etc., barely leaves us any time to invest in learning.
At such times, a resource that can demystify these new changes, deepen your existing knowledge and get you up to speed quickly, is always a welcome.
We at DotNetCurry decided to build such a resource!
I was looking out for an expert who was versatile, had a passion for sharing knowledge and had a good amount of experience with both past and present .NET technologies.
So I contacted Damir Arh.
Sometime in Nov 2017, we conceptualized the idea of a resource which would focus on C# developers who wanted to keep themselves updated with new features, as well as strengthen their existing .NET fundamentals.
The idea was to create a resource that contained succinct and easy to follow information, with just enough detail to help you speedily grasp the concept, and move ahead. The Q&A format would make it is easy to find specific topics of interest and only focus on those.
The Absolutely Awesome Book on C# and .NET
Today, I am happy to announce the release of The Absolutely Awesome Book on C# and .NET.
Built around concepts, this concise 500 pages eBook is available in PDF, ePub (iPad) and Mobi (Kindle) and will help you build a solid foundation in C# and .NET. This book covers C# 6.0, C# 7.0, .NET Framework and .NET Core.
There are also chapters that cover the latest developments to .NET and C# including .NET Standard and C# 8.0.
In summary, this eBook aims to:
- Help you build rock solid C# and .NET concepts in a Q & A format
- Make you a better C# developer
- Give you an overview of the current state of the .NET developer ecosystem
- Cover the latest features in .NET and C#
- Help you prepare for a .NET interview, and eventually for a better future
Book Structure and Layout
The book is 500 pages long with 88 chapters divided into 10 sections, which are as follows:
Section 1, .NET and Common Language Runtime (CLR), provides a high-level overview of .NET today and dives deeper into some aspects of the CLR, focusing on strengthening concepts.
Section 2, The Type System, explains the core principles of types in C#: the difference between reference and values types, type safety, static and dynamic binding, parameter passing, etc.
Section 3, Classes and Inheritance, explains how the principles of object-oriented programming are implemented in C# and how they can be used to correctly and efficiently develop your own types.
Section 4, String Manipulation, dives into a few important details about strings in .NET and C#, focusing on the performance and localization aspects that should always be considered.
Section 5, Generics and Collections, explains two very important and closely related topics: support for Generics in C#, and the built-in collection classes.
Section 6, LINQ, builds on the previous section to explain the LINQ (Language INtegrated Query) APIs in as much detail as necessary to confidently use them in every-day development.
Section 7, Parallel and Asynchronous Programming, gives most attention to the async and await keywords: what they mean, how to correctly use them, and what to watch out for or in other words, best practices.
Section 8, Serialization and Reflection, explains two related sets of APIs in .NET which you might not use often but should still have a good understanding of to recognize when they can be a good solution for your problem.
Section 9, C# 6, 7, is a thorough overview of the language features which were recently added to C#. This section gives you enough detail to help you make informed decisions in certain scenarios.
Section 10, A Peek into the Future, concludes the book with a coverage of latest developments in both C# and .NET at the time (including C# 8.0) when the book was being finalized (December 2018).
Credits
.NET is huge, and so are the recent changes to it. Keeping up with these new changes is no easy feat. Understanding and explaining them in an easy to follow language is a different ball game altogether.
In my opinion, Damir did a fantastic job of demystifying all these changes to the .NET platform, and the C# language. Although succinct in its own way, the book in a Q&A format have chapters that are carefully ordered in a way to make the book cohesive when it is read from cover to cover.
We also roped in Yacoub Massad for technically reviewing this book. If you are a regular reader of the DotNetCurry (DNC) magazine, you already know Yacoub via his regular column on pattern and practices. His time, effort and expertise helped us maintain the high standard of this book.
Thank you, Yacoub!
The well designed pages of this book is once again the job of Minal, who is also the designer for the DNC magazine, and is a mother to triplets. I applaud her for her hard work and dedication, and for elegantly balancing work and home!
Why should I purchase this book?
You should purchase this book if you:
- know your way around C# and .NET but want deepen your existing knowledge and understanding
- want to have a solid grasp of the latest developments in C# and .NET, and quickly
- are a .NET developer who just has a passion to learn new things and stay ahead of your peers
- are working on a .NET project that can use the new features of C# and .NET Core
- want to support our free magazines and this low cost initiative by us.
So what are you waiting for?
Check out a detailed Table Of Contents or download some sample chapters of the book.
Happy Learning!
This article has been editorially reviewed by Suprotim Agarwal.
C# and .NET have been around for a very long time, but their constant growth means there’s always more to learn.
We at DotNetCurry are very excited to announce The Absolutely Awesome Book on C# and .NET. This is a 500 pages concise technical eBook available in PDF, ePub (iPad), and Mobi (Kindle).
Organized around concepts, this Book aims to provide a concise, yet solid foundation in C# and .NET, covering C# 6.0, C# 7.0 and .NET Core, with chapters on the latest .NET Core 3.0, .NET Standard and C# 8.0 (final release) too. Use these concepts to deepen your existing knowledge of C# and .NET, to have a solid grasp of the latest in C# and .NET OR to crack your next .NET Interview.
Click here to Explore the Table of Contents or Download Sample Chapters!
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Suprotim Agarwal, MCSD, MCAD, MCDBA, MCSE, is the founder of
DotNetCurry,
DNC Magazine for Developers,
SQLServerCurry and
DevCurry. He has also authored a couple of books
51 Recipes using jQuery with ASP.NET Controls and
The Absolutely Awesome jQuery CookBook.
Suprotim has received the prestigious Microsoft MVP award for Sixteen consecutive years. In a professional capacity, he is the CEO of A2Z Knowledge Visuals Pvt Ltd, a digital group that offers Digital Marketing and Branding services to businesses, both in a start-up and enterprise environment.
Get in touch with him on Twitter @suprotimagarwal or at LinkedIn