As these sorts of books go, this is just ok. While the author covers many aspects of the language in fine detail, the book is lean on actual examples one would encounter in the real working world. Technically the book is fine, but realistically there is a lot lacking.

Sharp is an excellent technical writer.

A good example is Chapter 3 where he guides you through Visual Studio 2008's excellent Debugger Toolbar where you Step Into, Step Out and Step Over code as it runs in an example.
If you are lucky enough to have access to an (SkillSoft) online version of this book, you will be immersed in a unique and productive learning experience.

And I don't just mean a person whose last name is Sharp! :-) Although each chapter is ostensibly about some particular C# programming construct, a reader would learn more than just C# syntax from this book. By the time one finishes reading this book, one would also have learned enough about useful .Net frameworks such as Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation and LINQ. Kudos to the author for pulling this off!!

I love programming, and this was a great book to have. I still use it to keep my programming skills up and up. The author has a great grasp of the material.

unlike most books that may seem more entertaining-- this book makes you use c# for the common tasks you actually will be doing. The plan is that you program along with the author and learn "step by step" how to build many different essential programming building blocks using different net features. The section on wpf programming is wonderful'

I got this book because I wanted to learn Visual Studio 2008 and C# at the same time. It has certainly done the trick. I am currently at page 449, and I am amazed at how much information John Sharp has put in book. Even more amazing is that his teaching technique of a brief overview, and explaining while doing examples is surprisingly effective. If you are a Pro Developer familiar with C++ or java, then this book is probably not going to teach you anything interesting till part 4. I am very please and recommend to any novice who wants to learn.

This book is definately geared for beginners with no programming experience, which is fine. There are a few typo's but nothing to panic about. More importantly, there is little to keep you entertained and motivated to read it. An example, of the dryness is on page 241: Interface Restrictions...a bunch of "You-can-do-this-but-not thats". I am sure they are important points, but I think they are misplaced or better learned as you go along with each thing. I'm reading it and thinking "oh yeah, I'm going to remember all that." Nevertheless, if you can persist through the book, you will learn a lot and have a good foundation. But I recommend you buy "Head First C#" instead of this book.

After trying to pickup programming again several times (after not doing well in the few undergrad classes I took years ago), I've just completed the rough-design/implementation of my first c# application after reading through 9 chapters in this book.

John Sharp's book is laid out in fairly concise chapters, dealing with two or three concepts at a time. The text is clearly written, and has been fairly easy for me to understand.

The only exception (and the reason for 4/5) was the discussion of private data structures in objects. He stated that the this data is available to the class, but only implied that meant every instantiation of the class can access any other instantiation's private data. A friend who's a programmer clarified the matter, and made it sound like I was misreading it, but for a "beginners guide," I think such a point should be spelt out a bit better.

Great book: well laid out, easy to read, great examples (in the book and the code is on the CD).