Java/C#/.NET books/guides

Berserker

Berserker

Berserker

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I'm a seasoned (10 years+) C++ programmer, but due to impending redundancy think it would be a very good idea to widen my skill set.

I've done a little Java before but not enough to make me comfortable putting it on a CV. Haven't done any C#/.NET, though know enough to know the concepts aren't that far removed from Java.

So, can anyone recommend any good crash courses/primers/books on either of these. I'd rather have the 'hands on' type because actually doing is far better than just reading about it.

All suggestions welcome.
 
I have been studying java as part of my uni course i am doing but don't really seem to like it - it always feels sluggish, so i too am trying to pick up c#!!

i picked up XNA Essentials as well as C# step by step. They are both big books, but the step by step book spends a lot of the time going over basics. I thought i would be more inclined to learn if i was potentially making games so thats why i got XNA essentials. But then i don't think as a seasoned coder they would be right for you, and there must be more advanced books aimed at people in your situation.

Why not just download C# 2008 express Edition and have a mess around with it.
 
I made a similar move, I have about 5 years C++ experience and moved into .NET about 18 months ago. The problem I found is that there is no middle ground, they are either aimed beginner programmers or existing .NET developers. If you're familiar with C style languages then the move to C# isn't too traumatic. I've always been of the opinion if you get basics of how programming works and its in the C family it's not too hard to make the jump (Objective-C being the exception :P). The frameworks are massive and can be explored as you go and no one will ever be expected to know them all.

I learnt a lot by writing a bookmark management website with a winform client and picking up the bits I needed as I went through. For my first steps I just did what came natural and spent a lot of time browsing MSDN. Afterwards I picked up Jon Skeets C# in Depth and CLR via C# afterwards, although these are fairly advanced, it let me relate a lot of C++ concepts I knew well to .NET and the world started to make sense again. I never tried any of the WROX Programmer to Programmer books though, they might be worth look.

From all that waffle, I guess I'm trying to say read the basics on MSDN and give a pet project ago, there is so much info on MSDN / blogs / forums etc not sure if a book is needed.
 
Hmm trying to think of how I went from C/C++ to Java.. I think a book like "The Java Programming Language", Addison Wesley, is about as good a place to start.

If you're an experienced C++ programmer and don't attempt odd things like multiple inheritance then you'll be fine. I think key differences will be "interfaces" basically abstract classes, the threading support and the libraries (you don't have templates but as everything is based on Object it will work with collections etc).

I would look at the Eclipse IDE for Java. There's nothing like it and it's free with lots of support/plugins.

Objective-C is fine.. once you realise that you treat it as passing messages rather than calling function calls... then wondering why it doesn't throw exceptions if you invoke a method that doesn't exist because the object ignores the 'message'... very much like SmallTalk. I actually prefer the parameter handling as you don't have to guess the parameter by the number of commas.
 
I don't really buy books anymore. I can usually find the most up to date solutions to problems by doing a quick google.

Also there are loads of lovely tutorials on the net.
 
Any starting points in MSDN and/or tutorials will be gratefully received. I had a pet project in mind for C# but unfortunately I had a fairly tight deadline for that one so got as far as the C# equivalent of Hello, World and then gave up.

If I can do C++ to VB (admittedly only the basics, but enough to be productive) in four weeks, I'm sure I can do these once pointed in the right direction (getting started is always the hard part due to information overload).

Thanks for the suggestion about the Java book. Just occurred to me that I may have one already (possibly even that one). I think I've got a Java book somewhere. I did do a conversion course (for which I may even still have the notes), but it was at least five years ago (pre-Eclipse) and the project I did it for got canned, so I never got to use it and it's mostly been forgotten.
 
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OK, slight change of direction (maybe temporary, maybe not).

Can anyone please suggest one or several good ASP.NET tutorial(s) and tell me what tools I need to obtain to develop and test. I know absolutely nothing about ASP.NET and need to know something by next Wednesday (for a job interview). :eek:

Don't panic - they already know I don't know the technology but if I can demonstrate willingness to learn then so much the better.
 
Berserker said:
OK, slight change of direction (maybe temporary, maybe not).

Can anyone please suggest one or several good ASP.NET tutorial(s) and tell me what tools I need to obtain to develop and test. I know absolutely nothing about ASP.NET and need to know something by next Wednesday (for a job interview). :eek:

Don't panic - they already know I don't know the technology but if I can demonstrate willingness to learn then so much the better.
Click to expand...

Get Visual Web Developer Express
http://www.microsoft.com/express/vwd/

And then go here and read as much as you can!
http://www.asp.net/learn/
 
Berserker said:
OK, slight change of direction (maybe temporary, maybe not).

Can anyone please suggest one or several good ASP.NET tutorial(s) and tell me what tools I need to obtain to develop and test. I know absolutely nothing about ASP.NET and need to know something by next Wednesday (for a job interview). :eek:

Don't panic - they already know I don't know the technology but if I can demonstrate willingness to learn then so much the better.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you know this already, but you can enable IIS in Windows 7 with ASP. So you don't need to do much to get to a point where you can start learning.

HTH

Dangerstat
 
dangerstat said:
I'm sure you know this already, but you can enable IIS in Windows 7 with ASP. So you don't need to do much to get to a point where you can start learning.
Click to expand...

No, I didn't know that. Like I said, I know nothing. I've got four Windows 7 licenses sat here doing nowt but not sure I'll get the time to install them.

No worries though - I've got Windows Server 2003 and 2008 VMs to hand - so IIS is right there waiting for me (just need to find enough disk space to unpack the VM as I'm running extremely low on the laptop).
 
Berserker said:
No, I didn't know that. Like I said, I know nothing. I've got four Windows 7 licenses sat here doing nowt but not sure I'll get the time to install them.

No worries though - I've got Windows Server 2003 and 2008 VMs to hand - so IIS is right there waiting for me (just need to find enough disk space to unpack the VM as I'm running extremely low on the laptop).
Click to expand...

Sorry fella didn't mean to be rude. IIS is pretty low on space requirements IIRC, it'll make folder on your C (or whatever) drive like inetpub or something like that which is essentially the same as the /var/www/html dir on a linux box.

Anyhow you seem to have taken my comments the wrong way so I'll but out
 
Don't know where you got that impression. You suggested I knew something that I didn't - and in this case it's best not to make such assumptions (I don't mind being told twice, but not being told at all isn't so good). Thanks for the information. Pray do continue. :)

If I can make IIS work on Vista, that would be nice. If not, I'll wheel out the VMWare Server install on this laptop and feed it one of the Windows Server images I use for testing (they're all configured for local network access so I'd just need to check the IIS server setting and let it do its thing). I have at least used IIS before (a very, very long time ago - Windows NT/2000 sort of time).
 
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Berserker said:
Don't know where you got that impression. You suggested I knew something that I didn't - and in this case it's best not to make such assumptions (I don't mind being told twice, but not being told at all isn't so good). Thanks for the information. Pray do continue. :)

If I can make IIS work on Vista, that would be nice. If not, I'll wheel out the VMWare Server install on this laptop and feed it one of the Windows Server images I use for testing (they're all configured for local network access so I'd just need to check the IIS server setting and let it do its thing). I have at least used IIS before (a very, very long time ago - Windows NT/2000 sort of time).
Click to expand...

Well I believe Vista is the same as XP/7 on this. Anyhow here's the instructions I have

"Start, Control Panel, then add/remove programs"
click add/remove windows components..

Click the check box Next to application server and then click details

click the checkbox next to ASP.NET
Click okay and next
(dont be an idiot from then on and you'll be fine - just follow the obvious)
 
To be honest if you're just learning at the minute you don't even need to get IIS up and running.
I know the proper versions of Visual Studio have their own web server built in, which fires up whenever you build the solution.
I haven't used the Express edition but would assume it has something similar, especially as it's designed to be easy for beginners to get going with things.

Obviously if you're deploying a proper application then it would be IIS all the way, but for playing about and learning you shouldn't really need to do that.
 
Thanks. I have the proper VS2005 and VS2008 installed - at least for the next three weeks from the current job. Probably didn't install the ASP stuff though so I'll have to add that.

I may as well get IIS up and running though. Probably won't be on the laptop for obvious (security) reasons, but I guess I can always disable it when not in use.
 
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