

Ask HN:  Any good .NET books? - francoisdevlin

I'm looking for resources to learn C# &#38; the .NET platform.  I've got a lot of experience with Java, Ruby &#38; Clojure.  I'm interested in anything from "C# in 21 days" to works about how to write a CLR language compiler.  What books and other stuff can HN recommend?
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andrewhare
I would check out these books: C# in a Nutshell
([http://www.amazon.com/C-4-0-Nutshell-Definitive-
Reference/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/C-4-0-Nutshell-Definitive-
Reference/dp/0596800959/ref=pd_sim_b_9)) CLR via C#
([http://www.amazon.com/CLR-via-Dev-Pro-Jeffrey-
Richter/dp/073...](http://www.amazon.com/CLR-via-Dev-Pro-Jeffrey-
Richter/dp/0735627045/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281111125&sr=8-1)) C# in
Depth ([http://www.amazon.com/Depth-What-you-need-
master/dp/19339883...](http://www.amazon.com/Depth-What-you-need-
master/dp/1933988363/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281111147&sr=8-1))

~~~
blangblang
I'll gladly second Jon Skeet's 'C# in Depth'. The second edition is currently
available through MEAP @ <http://www.manning.com/skeet2/>, with the print
edition coming in September.

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dnunes
Definitely Don Box's Essential .NET ([http://www.amazon.com/Essential-NET-
Common-Language-Runtime/...](http://www.amazon.com/Essential-NET-Common-
Language-Runtime/dp/0201734117)). For the concurrency aspect I recommend Joe
Duffy's Concurrent Programming on Windows ([http://www.amazon.com/Concurrent-
Programming-Windows-Joe-Duf...](http://www.amazon.com/Concurrent-Programming-
Windows-Joe-Duffy/dp/032143482X/)).

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anelson
Consider this another vote for Richter's "CLR Via C#"
[http://www.amazon.com/CLR-via-Dev-Pro-Jeffrey-
Richter/dp/073...](http://www.amazon.com/CLR-via-Dev-Pro-Jeffrey-
Richter/dp/0735627045/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281111125&sr=8-1)

Get the latest edition, covering .NET 4. The chapters on concurrency and I/O
alone are worth the price of admission.

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humblegeek
Try: [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/531329/best-c-book-for-
an...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/531329/best-c-book-for-an-
experienced-programmer)

Personal Recommendation (after learning the language)
<http://www.amazon.com/CLR-Via-C-Pro-Developer/dp/0735621632>

------
bosch
First I'd recomend learning about Visual Studio as if you don't know about the
IDE it can slow and even impede your programming. Wrox's Professional Visual
Studio 2010: [http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Visual-
Studio-2010-Progra...](http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Visual-
Studio-2010-Programmer/dp/0470548657/)

Second, I'd say that for a general book that's informative and not too hard to
learn use Wrox's Professional C# 4 and .Net 4. I prefer Wrox books as they are
usually the same format book to book and most have you complete a project to
practice what you're learning: [http://www.amazon.com/Professional-4-0-NET-
Wrox-Programmer/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Professional-4-0-NET-Wrox-
Programmer/dp/0470502258/)

Depending on what you're using for your data store I'd also suggest reading up
on ADO.NET 4 but I don't have any experience with books on that topic so
perhaps someone can suggest some.

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i386
I recommend the "Framework Design Guidelines: Conventions, Idioms, and
Patterns for Reusable .NET Libraries" book.

[http://www.amazon.com/Framework-Design-Guidelines-
Convention...](http://www.amazon.com/Framework-Design-Guidelines-Conventions-
Libraries/dp/0321246756)

------
jeroen
Scott Guthrie's weblog: <http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/>

~~~
__Joker
I will say Scott Guthrie is more focussed towards the ASP.NET. But his blogs
are really good.

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rufius
Best one for really understanding the CLR and .NET is Jeff Richter's "CLR via
C#".

