Head First C#, 3rd Edition; Greene, Stellman / O'Reilly

I started with Head First C#, going in with a blank slate. I’m a sys admin and DBA by trade, so I wanted a programming book that was at my level.

This is that book

I am big fan of how the book opens with writing code for a simple program. After that it moves into the logical and syntax of what just happened. This may or may not work for everyone, the style of “follow me, and do what I do, then I’ll tell you why”, it works for me. For anyone who learns-by-doing, this book is for you.

The writing style if informal, which, doesn’t speak to every type of reader, but it works for me. The book takes the teeth out what could be the heavy subject of C#. The little call-outs, cartoons, and exercises break up the monotony of learning a programming language, they provide brief respites. The examples and directions are easy to follow. The book builds on previous chapters, so one could skip forward to later chapters if the book is a bit slow.

I don’t have a whole lot of negative to say about this book, it hit all the spots that I was looking to itch. If one is looking for a reference book, this isn’t it. It’s just not setup like that. I will definitely tell friends and co-workers (who aren’t programmers), who want to learn C#, that this is the book.