Head First C#, 3rd Edition

You want to learn C# programming, but you’re not sure you want to suffer through another tedious technical book. You’re in luck: Head First C#, Third Edition introduces this language in a fun, visual way. You’ll quickly learn everything from creating your first program to learning sophisticated coding skills with C# 5.0, Visual Studio 2012, and the .NET 4.5 Framework, while avoiding common errors that frustrate many students.

The third edition offers several hands-on labs along the way to help you build and test programs using skills you’ve learned up to that point. In the final lab, you’ll put everything together. From objects to garbage collection and from exceptions to interactions, you’ll learn C# in a way that engages and entertains your brain. Here are a few of the topics you’ll learn:

• Start by building a useful application with pre-built components in Visual Studio 2012
• Discover how objects work, using real-world examples
• Store numbers, text, and other basic data types using primitives
• Save complex data in files and databases with great C# tools
• Build intuitive and easy-to-use interfaces by following simple rules
• Design your code to catch exceptions—things you don’t expect
• Develop good programming habits, such as refactoring code and applying unit tests
• Learn how web services put your programs in touch with the rest of the world
• Make it easy for other people to install your software

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Start Building With c#: Build something cool, fast!
Chapter 2. It’s all Just Code: Under the hood
Chapter 3. Objects: Get Oriented!: Making code make sense
Chapter 4. Types and References: It’s 10:00. Do you know where your data is?

Part I: C# Lab: A Day at the Races
Chapter 5. Encapsulation: Keep your privates… private
Chapter 6. Inheritance: Your object’s family tree
Chapter 7. Interfaces and Abstract Classes: Making classes keep their promises
Chapter 8. Enums and Collections: Storing Lots of Data
Chapter 9. Reading and Writing Files: Save the last byte for me!

Part II: C# Lab: The Quest
Chapter 10. Designing Windows Store Apps with Xaml: Taking your apps to the next level
Chapter 11. Async, Await, and Data Contract Serialization: Pardon the interruption
Chapter 12. Exception Handling: Putting out fires gets old
Chapter 13. Captain Amazing The Death of the Object
Chapter 14. Querying Data and Building Apps With LINQ: Get Control of Your Data
Chapter 15. Events and Delegates: What your Code does When You’re Not Looking
Chapter 16. Architecting Apps with the Mvvm Pattern: Great apps on the inside and outside

Part III: C# Lab: Invaders
Chapter 17. Bonus Project!: Build a Windows Phone app