This book describes the C#, a general-purpose programming language used in the commercial world. The book has a very detailed explanation of various language constructs. The constructs are explained with code listings and their background concepts.

The first eight chapters describe the core of the language. Chapter 1 shows how to run a simple program. It covers keywords and variables in the language, and an included table gives a brief introduction to the language’s different versions.

Chapters 2 and 3 are on data types. They explain various numeric data types and their conversions. They explain value types, reference types, implicit types, and nullable data types. They also explain strings, arrays, and tuples.

Chapters 4 and 5 explain various control language constructs: statements, expressions with their operators, preprocessor directives, methods, scopes, and so on. Chapters 6 and 7 are on classes. Access to fields and methods, constructors, properties, and so on are explained. The interaction of classes, including partial classes, inheritance among classes, system.object classes, and overriding, are explained. Chapter 8 is on interfaces; it explains multiple inheritance in interfaces and implementing classes.

The next chapters describe other constructs of the language. Chapter 9 introduces structs and enums. Chapter 10 is on operator overloading and documentation by Extensible Markup Language (XML) comments. Chapter 11 explains various exception handling constructs, and chapter 12 explains generic types and methods along with their restrictions. Chapters 13 and 14 are on the subscriber pattern, covering delegates, anonymous methods, events, and delegates. Chapters 15 through 17, on collections, explain various operations: initializing, querying, joining, filtering, and so on. These are explained using both standard query-like language statements and methods on related key interfaces. Chapter 18 introduces reflections in the language. It also talks about assembly attributes in the code.

Chapters 19 through 22 are on threading in the language. The chapters include details on tasking, waiting, semaphores, parallel iteration ways, asynchronous ways, and synchronous ways. Chapter 23 has some information on interoperability, such as application programming interfaces (APIs), and chapter 24 has some information on available common language infrastructures.

The book can be used for an undergraduate course in C#. It is also a good resource for readers preparing for any type of C# certification. Topics are classified for beginners and for advanced readers. It can also be useful for programmers working in C# on a daily basis. Finally, compiler writers and readers working in programming languages will find a good C# test case here.

More reviews about this item: Amazon