This covers C# and the most basic .net pretty well and is easy to understand. I just wish it covered more framework, but I guess its got to stop somewhere.

I have read a few programming books and I can honestly say that no single one has had more positive impact on my level of programming skill and knowledge than this one. Let me preface this by saying that this is not a beginner book. That is, if you have never programmed with C# before, this is not the book for you. However if you have just finished a "beginner" book and are looking for the next step, then I highly recommend this book for you. Whether you are planning on getting into ASP.Net development, WinForms, SOA, or even XNA, this book will provide you with a firm grasp of the language fundamentals that will make jumping into any or all of the above much easier. The book is broken down into several chapters, each one covering different key topics of the C# language such as basic data types (what is boxing? How does the compiler handle value types vs reference types and why should you care?), Generics, Serialization, Reflection, and COM Interop, just to name a few. Mr Balena also maintains an online blog at the Code Architects site and has even been kind enough to personally answer a few of my questions that I had about the topics covered in the book. I can't recommend this book more, it really did make the difference for me between being a C# enthusiast and a professional C# developer.

Francesco Bakena is a well-known author, the book is good.
The themes and the examples are clean. The same line as Visual Basic. I recommend.
Manoel de Assis - Brazil - [...]

Programming Microsoft Visual C# 2005: The Base Class Library (Pro-Developer)

I sought and purchased this book for the purpose of moving to C# 2005 from 2003. I have an extensive library of language and class references, guides and detailed texts for .NET 1.1. Much of that information will, of course, serve me well with the newer language, so what I sought was a good, basic introduction to C# 2005 that covered the important differences in the base classes. This book seems to have been written exactly for me!

Balena has an easy style of writing, also, that just seems to allow the information to jump right into your brain. There are other authors whose technical expertise is obvious to me, and whose books I regularly look to buy, but whose writing have quirks that can distract me at times. Balena is not such an author. Clearly, he knows how to make proper use of the IBrain.InputInformation(T info) method, rather than using the older, weakly-typed IBrain.InputInformation(object info) method. OK. Bad joke. But I hope you got my point!

If you have C# skills of no less then an advanced beginner, and want to find yourself securely in the intermediate range, then you have found the right book. Read it once and you will find your skill set drastically improved. Read it twice and study it thoroughly, and you will find yourself getting turned to for help from your more senior developers. Quite the ego booster.

It's well written, has appropriate examples for the target audience, and doesn't get bogged down in beginning C# material. It has plenty of advanced material, if that is what you are looking for.

Having sweated through thousands of pages of other C# books, I found Francesco Balena's eloquence as refreshing as a perfectly chilled Corona. It immediately tightened my loose grip on particulars such as string formatting, delegates, generics, regular expressions and interoperability. And it is the best discussion of the base classe I've ever seen. Be aware that this book does NOT intend to teach programming. However, if you're someone who can code in some OOP language, knows C# syntax, and seeks professional proficiency in this language, then in my opinion, there is no better book you could own.

Balena, is an good author in Programming languages. This book explain the different topics in a simple manner easy for the newbie and experienced to keep track on business.

C#, is good for Visual Basic programmers with desires to work in C. The Class is the base in C++ and Balena makes a nice book explaining that.

This is THE book to own if you do any kind of C# programming. Its not oriented towards web controls, or winforms, etc... but explains everything from files/streams, assemblies, attributes, the object lifetime, and ESPECIALLY Generics. The generics chapter alone is worth the cost of the book.

This is a TOTAL "look under the hood" of the C# BCL.

This is THE book to own if you do any kind of C# programming. Its not oriented towards web controls, or winforms, etc... but explains everything from files/streams, assemblies, attributes, the object lifetime, and ESPECIALLY Generics. The generics chapter alone is worth the cost of the book.

This is a TOTAL "look under the hood" of the C# BCL.

This is a great book and a must have for all the .net developers. I recommend CLR via C# along with this book.

This is a great book and a must have for all the .net developers. I recommend CLR via C# along with this book.

This is not a learn how to program in C# book. However, once you have at least some experience in programming with C#, this is the next book you should buy. The chapter on interfaces is worth the price all by itself. After reading it, I finally have a good idea of what interfaces are all about and the circumstances under which they should be used. As long as you keep in mind that it is not a beginners book, you will not be disappointed.

This is not a learn how to program in C# book. However, once you have at least some experience in programming with C#, this is the next book you should buy. The chapter on interfaces is worth the price all by itself. After reading it, I finally have a good idea of what interfaces are all about and the circumstances under which they should be used. As long as you keep in mind that it is not a beginners book, you will not be disappointed.

I found the book on time in good condition

There are only a few authors who writes about Microsoft technologies whose book you can buy without reading reviews. Francesco Balena is one of them (yes, Jeffrey Richter is another one). Both of these authors write for a particular segment of developers - those who have some programming experience and have tried some things on their own or have read some beginner's book and is ready for the serious stuff. The style is lucid, but no stone is left unturned on the topic being discussed. Both of them (Balena and Richter) also give practical coding advices which we wont find in the usual programming books. The approach is very pragmatic without losing the spirit of good programming idioms. Well, I am diverging. The point is - you dont need to read any reviews to buy a Balena book - rush to the store and get it. They are all gems.
Well, if you are still reading this and have not ordered it yet, it means you are interested in knowing a bit more about the book. This book is almost a C# port of his book Visual Basic 2005 book. The chapters go like this :
1. .NET Framework basic types - Balena speaks about the System.Object type, String types, Numeric types,DateTime type etc.
2. Object Lifetime - Memory management, Garbage collection etc.
3. Interfaces - Usage of common interfaces in .NET like IComparable, IDisposable etc.
4. Generics - Why we need Generics, how to write generic code and some advanced topics like support for Math operators.
5. Arrays and Collections - The different types of arrays, overview of System.Collections namespace as well as Generic collections.
6. Regular Expressions - This is an excellent tutorial of using regular expressions in .NET
7. Files, Directories and Streams - IO in .NET is a bit confusing, this chapter might help to clear things up.
8. Assemblies and Resources - Everything u need to know about assmeblies.
9. Reflection - Working with assemblies, modules, types - retrieving information about assembly at runtime and how to use that information.
10. Custom Attributes - how to create custom attributes, shows some scenarios for using custom attributes.
11. Threads - Thread fundamentals, synchronization, Thread pool etc. This is a very nice tutorial for using Threads in .NET
12. Object serialization - Serialization techniques - both built-in and custom.
13. PInvoke and COM Interop - Nice introduction, shows how to call plain C DLLs, and COM DLLs from .NET and also calling .NET components from COM. For more details get Adam Nathan's book.

Well, that is it... Not fit as your first C# book, but if you know some C#, this is a very good book for anybody.

There are only a few authors who writes about Microsoft technologies whose book you can buy without reading reviews. Francesco Balena is one of them (yes, Jeffrey Richter is another one). Both of these authors write for a particular segment of developers - those who have some programming experience and have tried some things on their own or have read some beginner's book and is ready for the serious stuff. The style is lucid, but no stone is left unturned on the topic being discussed. Both of them (Balena and Richter) also give practical coding advices which we wont find in the usual programming books. The approach is very pragmatic without losing the spirit of good programming idioms. Well, I am diverging. The point is - you dont need to read any reviews to buy a Balena book - rush to the store and get it. They are all gems.