I have been building software professionally for about 20 years, and in that time have read a lot of books. While generally impressed with the O'Reilly series, this book exceeded my expectations.

I think C# 3.0 in a Nutshell is clear, very well written, concise (even at 700+ pages), thorough and practical. While not for the first-time programmer, this book is an excellent reference, guide and teacher for those familiar with .NET and C# concepts, and who wants to review the basics as well as learn about the new .NET 3.5 constructs, e.g., LINQ.

Of course, other books specifically dedicated to a given topic will go into more depth, but this is a great place to get a fairly deep overview accompanied by cogent explanations and examples.


This is a must-have on every .NET programmer's bookshelf.

This book seems like a great reference so far. I had been hoping to learn C# with this book, but it's not really a learning book. it's definitely first and foremost a reference. Most of the wording is quite dense. I found myself reading the first few pages several times because they were so packed with information as they tried to explain the entire layout of C#. Later in the book I could pick out useful information with a fast read.

I was annoyed that it advertises a free online edition, because that is not true. The online edition is free for only a short time, and after that the subscription is very expensive. It would be nice if there were a place online where you could download examples or notes. It's nice to have an online and print copy of the same book just for text searching.

This is one of the few programming books I bought I actually keep nearby. Great reference for everyday C# coding needs - better organized and more clear than MSDN.

This book is a huge step up from the first edition. It's totally rewritten. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and now it's between the keyboard and the screen. I am continually referring to it.
The chapters on assemblies and reflection are worth the price of the book alone.
I could not ask for more.

This is an excellent reference on C#, the .NET framework, and LINQ. It's not just a rewrite of MSDN, but gives some great insight into how to use the core pieces of the .NET framework for practical applications.

The chapters on LINQ alone are worth the cost of the book. The authors dive deep into LINQ and really give you a good understanding of how it works.

I also like how the authors stay focused on the core pieces of .NET, and don't stray too deep into things like WCF and WPF. There are plenty of good books for that.

I highly recommend this for anyone desiring to learn more about C#, the .NET framework, and LINQ.

I have only read about twenty-five pages of this book, mainly at the beginning of the first chapter on LINQ; so I may have to revise my opinion later on. For now, however, this book is like a breath of fresh air. It gets straight to the point and pulls no punches. Great job!

This is a must have reference book. If you are new to C# maybe you should try first an introductory text (such as the "Visual C# 2008 step by step", or the "Head first C#") but keep in mind that introductory books usually have things spread around ... and as such this "nutshell" text is still essential (not only as a reference, but also for filling-in any gaps/details the introductory books might not mention).

This book is a really great combination between a tutorial and a reference book. What I like the most about it is that it not only explains you how to use the different elements of the C# language and the .NET Framework core namespaces, but it also explains to you how they work in the inside. This gives you a notable insight when you try to understand a strange side-effect in your code.

All explanations are made very clearly and it is very easy to read. The different chapters of the book are arranged by topic, so it is easy to use it as a reference when you can't exactly remember something. It can also be read from cover to cover.

It is, however, not recommended for beginners (as it is stated in the introduction); if you are looking for a programming tutorial this book is not a very good idea.

great book, a must have! if you do not have this book you are not a C# developer! =)

The "In a Nutshell" series has long been my favorite's. I am glad they did C# again with .NET 3.0. The format of the book changed quite a bit with a much better format and lenghthy explainations and demonstrations. I truly hope they redo ADO.NET in a nutshell as that was my favorite as well.

This book is all you really need on C# and .NET framework. [I have many others, but always find myself coming back to this, and for good reason]

Pure awesome - if you're a good programmer already and want the skinny on what's new (or even great explanations on what you already think you know), spend the $10-$15 and buy this book. I love it and I buy every version they put out. There just aren't enough people like Joseph and Ben writing tech books!

For those who has experience with object-oriented programming, this is an excellent book both for learning C# and for being used as a reference book on the desk. The examples are carefully designed in general but can be made better in a couple of places.

sits on my desk as a reference when I encounter something I cannot remember or just need to brush up on!

I'm a professional developer but I have no experience using C#. My current project required learning C# at a highly accelerated pace and this book did it for me.

If you are an experienced developer needing to learn C# quickly and thoroughly without resorting to the "for Dummies" types of books this is an effective tool, use it.

References to this book kept coming up at the top of internet search results while I was trying to figure out how to implement a QBE UI using LINQ.

I finally took the hint and bought the book.

Now that I have the book, after having sifted through it, I can attest that it explains C# clearly and thoroughly and is delightfully insightful. On par with the best O'Reilly nutshell references.

I believe it is currently the best C# 3.0 reference on the market.

A Quick Way To look up anything that deals with C#
Terms, Keywords, implementation etc...
great for both a beginners referanece and a seasoned professional

This book is a hands down winner among the C# books currently in market. Written in a clear and precise manner, it is both a tutorial and a reference. You can get a taste of the book from the authors' website where they have posted tutorials (check out the tutorial on Threading in C#).
I came to know about this book from a link on Chris Sells' blog where he is all praise for the book.
Highly recommended.

Bought this to learn LINQ. Found that it has an excellent treatment of all topics and lots of sample code. Very clear and concise explanations. This is a good technical book I have read in a long time.

This book is a pleasure to read. It has everything you could want out of a core language book. All the basics are covered as well as all the advanced topics. It gives you a brake down of what feature is in what version of the .NET Framework as well a clean code examples for everything. Very good coverage on the core .NET Framework class libraries. The past versions of C# in a Nutshell where not very good being that it was created using Refection and NDoc, or what I would call cheating. But they fixed all that in this edition. The authors have out done themselves with this MASTER WORK!

Note: this book is not for beginners, please understand that. The authors are dealing with complex and in depth language features that the beginner may not understand. O'Reilly puts out two great beginning C# books; Programming C# and Learning C# both written by Jessie Liberty and since I have bought every version of the Programming C# since the first edition I cannot recommend it enough to the beginner. Programming C# is a close second to this book so you can't go wrong.

I love this book! If you're self-taught when it comes to C#, as I am, having picked it up from MSDN and various tutorials on the web, then you will really appreciate having such a comprehensive guide to the language handy. I was disappointed on this front: I had expected from other reviews that it would cover Windows Forms programming, but that and ASP.NET are outside its "nutshell". However, given how comprehensive the treatment is, I can understand why. It would have necessitated a much shallower approach if it had attempted to tackle those two huge areas. This is about the nuts and bolts of C#, including the core components of the .NET CLR. It's a reference book, not a tutorial, but if you are familiar with programming concepts, you can certainly work through it chapter by chapter. The language is clear and the examples error-free. You feel you are in good hands, and you can't ask for more than that from a programming text.

I've owned quite of few of the O'Reilly Nutshell books over the years, and I have to say this is the best one. Not because of the topic, i.e. C#, but because of how well written and organized it is. It manages to cover the most important topics a C# programmer needs to be familiar with in a concise, but not needlessly abbreviated manner. You usually won't need to go off searching somewhere else because the topic wasn't covered in depth enough. Almost everytime I need to look something up, it's there and very well explained. You can also just read it chapter by chapter, and you'll learn quite a bit you didn't know before. My hats off to the authors for an extremely well written book. I wish more computer books were this good.

Every thing in C# is included with examples. From novice to professional I believe this book would be useful.

I recommend it for people who have already been programming in C# for a while and finally want to get all their facts straight. Also highly recommended for beginners to C#. This is however, not a programming tutorial.

This is a great reference book. It's very clear about the details of C# and its various nuisances. The only complaint is that there is a lot of excess material which is C# related, but not directly C#. The first 150 pages or so are the meat, and the last 550 are all potatoes i.e., filler. If you're interested in JUST C#, this is overkill. If you're interested in C#, Linq, and .NET, then this is just right.

I bought a copy of this book earlier in the week, and have been extremely impressed with it. It is one of the few books I keep on my desk as a quick reference.

What I like about the book is that it packs a lot of content, yet is structured in a way that is easy to read and lookup. Previous Nutshell series books I've used were more of an API reference (and contributed little over what you can lookup online in MSDN). This book doesn't focus on API listings (although it does include some tables of them), instead it quickly explains the relevant concepts in each chapter and provides real world code snippets showing how to use them.

Although called C# 3.0 in a Nutshell, the book covers much more than just C# as a language. The last 600 pages covers much of the core .NET Framework Base Class library - and has good chapters and samples on LINQ, XML, Streams, Regular Expressions, Threading, Collections, Serialization, etc. There is enough on each subject to be useful, while still being a quick read and easy to quickly look things up.

All in all, a book I recommend.

If you already know C# but want to upgrade to C# 3.0, this might be all you need.

It's a thick book that encompasses almost every facet of C#. If you're looking for a book that is both broad and deep (well, as deep as an "in a nutshell" book can be), then I highly recommend this book. It'll be on my bookshelf for a long time.

I bought this book to see what LING is all about, and after reading it I understand the Net framework a lot more. It's a good reference book to have.

This book is for those who may have no prior knowledge of C#, but some general programming experience is necessary. If you're already familiar with C# 2.0, you'll find more than a hundred pages dedicated to LINQ and other new C# 3.0 features. In addition, many other chapters are designed to add to your existing knowledge of C# and the core Framework. If you're looking for a book that skims every NET Framework technology, this is not for you.

The first three chapters after the introduction are solely about C#. This section starts with syntax, types, and variables. It concludes with advanced topics such as unsafe code and preprocessor directives. Sections that apply only to C# 3.0 are clearly marked as such. If you're new to the language, you should read these chapters sequentially, with the exception of Chapter 4, whose sections can be read in any order. The remaining chapters cover the core NET Framework, which includes such topics as collections, LINQ, XML, streams, networking, reflection, security, threading, application domains, working with native DLLs, and diagnostics. You can read most of these chapters randomly, except for Chapter 6, Chapter 7, and Chapter 13, which lay a foundation for subsequent topics. The three chapters on LINQ are also best read in sequence.

The examples in this book require a C# 3.0 (or 2.0) compiler in conjunction with the Microsoft NET Framework 3.5 (or 3.0/2.0). You will also require Microsoft's NET documentation. The easiest way to get all three along with an integrated development environment is to install Microsoft Visual Studio. Any edition is suitable for what's taught in this book, including Visual Studio Express, which is currently a free download. Visual Studio also includes an express edition of SQL Server, required to run the LINQ to SQL examples, and IntelliSense, which pops up type member listings as you type.

Another option, if you don't mind using a plain-text editor and building at the command line, is to download the NET Framework SDK. This includes the compiler, NET documentation, and additional command-line tools. The lightest option is to download and install just the Microsoft NET Framework Runtime. This includes the command-line compiler; however, it doesn't include other command-line tools or any documentation. The table of contents, not currently shown as part of the product description, is shown next.

Chapter 1. Introducing C# and the NET Framework
Chapter 2. C# Language Basics
Chapter 3. Creating Types in C#
Chapter 4. Advanced C#
Chapter 5. Framework Overview
Chapter 6. Framework Fundamentals
Chapter 7. Collections
Chapter 8. LINQ Queries
Chapter 9. LINQ Operators
Chapter 10. LINQ to XML
Chapter 11. Other XML Technologies
Chapter 12. Disposal and Garbage Collection
Chapter 13. Streams and I/O
Chapter 14. Networking
Chapter 15. Serialization
Chapter 16. Assemblies
Chapter 17. Reflection and Metadata
Chapter 18. Security
Chapter 19. Threading
Chapter 20. Asynchronous Methods
Chapter 21. Application Domains
Chapter 22. Integrating with Native DLLs
Chapter 23. Diagnostics
Chapter 24. Regular Expressions
Appendix A. C# Keywords
Appendix B. Namespace-to-Assembly Reference