Book Review – Microsoft Visual C# 2013 Step by Step

by trdunsworth

I’ve recently been reading Microsoft Visual C# 2013 Step by Step by John Sharp. As usual, the disclaimer is that I received a copy of the book for free in return for the review. I’ve not linked to the book because I blog as part of O’Reilly’s reader review program and recently Microsoft Press books have been removed from their site. Out of courtesy to them, I am not going to link to Microsoft’s site for the book.

The book is aimed, as you read it, for programmers who are wanting to get a foundation in the basics of C#. As such, the book is a good reference work. It takes apart each of the different parts of the language and shows you how they are used in basic format. The first part of the book introduces you to the language, it’s absolute basics, and Visual Studio. The second part, getting the object model under control. Part 3 extends it, and finally, part four shows you how to build something simple for Windows 8.1; as that is Microsoft’s application focus currently.

Overall, Mr. Sharp does an excellent job describing the basics. If you’re a more experienced programmer wanting to see what’s new in the language, this isn’t really your book. But that’s not a negative. It’s not designed for that level of programmer. The examples are clear and concise. However, my one concern is that, as with most beginning books, what you’re learning along the way doesn’t build on itself until the final portion of the book when it all builds at once. However, if you’re going to be new to C# and you’re not coming from Java, this is certainly a good book to start with.