Rating:  - Excellent C# 2.0 Resource
The C# Cookbook, Second Edition has been updated and revised for C# 2.0 and version 2.0 of the .NET framework, and despite the fact that version 3.5 of the .NET framework is imminent, it remains a must have book to have on hand. It is essentially a collection of examples showing how to solve specific programming problems (some of which you might not have even realised you have, such as boxing/unboxing and efficient string handling, to name just a few...)
The C# Cookbook has over 1100 pages and is arranged into 20 chapters, each of which focuses on a particular area in C#. Despite its size it is not daunting to read. Here are the topics covered:
1. Numbers and Enumerations
2. Strings and Characters
3. Classes & Structures
4. Generics
5. Collections
6. Iterators and Partial Types
7. Exception Handling
8. Diagnostics
9. Delegates, Events and Anonymous methods
10. Regular Expressions
11. Data Structures and Algorithms
12. Filesystem I/O
13. Reflection
14. Web
15. XML
16. Networking
17. Security
18. Threading and Synchronisation
19. Unsafe Code
20. Toolbox
This book is in O'Reilly's `cookbook' series Problem-Solution-Discussion format, and like other books in the series can either be read from cover to cover, or be used as a reference to shed light on a particular problem. Each `recipe' starts with a description of the problem, followed by a complete, documented code sample showing you how to solve it, along with a detailed discussion of how and why it works, and any drawbacks. This format can also serve as an excellent way of mastering aspects of C#.
Like the other O'Reilly cookbooks, this book manages to strike a perfect balance between reference and instruction on real problems developers encounter every day. Hats off to Jay and Stephen for creating such a useful resource.
If you are a developer who writes C# code for a living, I would be surprised if you do not find something useful the first time you pick this book up. If you are thinking of buying just one book on C# 2.0, make it this one. Highly recommended for beginners and experts alike.
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Rating: - Vital reference for solving problems and learning C#
Another book that's great as the occasional reference. This is another huge tome and it's chock full of topics from generics to security to XML.
Each topic is a recipe in a Problem/Solution/Discussion/See Also format. The solution is a snippet or set of snippets to solve the specific problem and the discussion is s walkthrough of the ins and outs of both the problem and how the solution fits the bill. Occasionally there's a good discussion of the pros and cons of solutions.
This isn't a book for reading cover to cover, but there's a lot to be learned browsing through the recipes, and you're sure to get answers on a wide range of topics including solid use of generics, exception handling, I/O, web bits, and networking. The chapters on security and reflection are particularly useful because they offer up good insights on approaching secure coding correctly and good techniques for dealing with reflection.
Rating: - Highly Useful
This is exactly the sort of book one needs when beginning a new programming language, and still useful later. It is a large comprehensive set of examples.
Rating: - A "Must-Have" C# Reference
This book is fantastically useful. If you want to learn C# syntax, then pick up either "Programming C#" by Jesse Liberty or "Programming C# with Visual Studio" by Jeffrey Suddeth.
After you are comfortable with the language, buy "C# Cookbook". The format is perfect: you have a problem, it provides a nice little solution. I had a very nice first experience with the book. I wanted to write a Set class, I looked it up in the index, and was quite happy to find it written completely in this book. Twenty minutes later I was done.
Another pleasant experience: I had looked through my other six C# books and had failed to discover why it was no longer necessary to implement IEnumerator for classes that implement IEnumerable. I reached for "C# Cookbook" and five minutes later I had the answer.
If you are a serious, or even semi-serious C# programmer, buy this book. It will make your programming easier and more fun.
Rating: - COOKING WITH C#!!
Are you an experienced C# or .NET developer? If you are, then this book is for you! Authors Jay Hilyard and Stephen Teilhet, have done an outstanding job of writing a second edition of a book that was put together based on programming problems that the authors ran into when they were first learning C# as well as during their continued use of it.
Hilyard and Teilhet, begin by focusing on the numeric and enumeration data types used in C# code. Then, the authors cover both the String and Char data types. Next, they cover a wide range of recipes from design patterns to converting a class to interoperating with COM. The authors then focus on the new generics capacity of C#, which allows you have code operate uniformly on values of different types. They continue by examining recipes that make use of collections. Then, the authors use two new features of C# to solve very different programming problems. Next, they show you how to implement exception handling in your application. The authors then explore recipes that use data types that fall under the System.Diagnostics namespace. They continue by showing you how delegates, events, and anonymous methods can be used in your applications. They also cover a very useful set of classes that are used to run regular expressions against strings. Then the authors show you how to implement certain data structures and algorithms that are not in the FCL. Next, they deal with filesystem interactions in four distinct ways. The authors show you ways to use the built-in assembly inspection system provided by the .NET Framework to determine what types, interfaces, and methods are implemented within an assembly and how to access them in a late-bound fashion. Then, they cover accessing a web site and its content as well as programmatically determining web site configuration. Next, the authors explore some of the uses for XML. The authors then explore the connectivity options provided by the .NET Framework. They continue by exploring areas such as controlling access to types, encryption and decryption, random numbers, securely storing data, and using programmatic and declarative security. Then, the authors address the subject of using multiple threads of execution in a .NET program. Next, they discuss how C# allows you to step outside of the safe environment of managed code and write code that is considered unsafe by the .NET Framework. Finally, they help you how to determine locations of system resources, sending e-mail, and working with services.
This most excellent book is laid out with respect to the types of problems you will solve as you progress through your life as a C# programmer. More importantly, nearly every recipe contained in this book shows you how to solve a specific problem.
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