INTRODUCTION
Your job is to take this information and apply it to your specific programming assignments. I
obviously understand that your projects most likely don’t revolve around automobiles with friendly pet
names (Zippy the BMW, or a Yugo named Clunker, among others), but that’s what applied knowledge is
all about!
Rest assured, once you understand the topics and concepts presented within this text, you will
be in a perfect position to build .NET solutions that map to your own unique programming
environment.
An Overview of This Book
Pro C# 5.0 and the .NET 4.5 Framework, Sixth Edition, is logically divided into eight distinct parts, each of
which contains a number of related chapters. Here is a part-by-part and chapter-by-chapter breakdown
of the text.
Part I: Introducing C# and the .NET Platform
The purpose of Part 1 is to acclimate you to the nature of the .NET platform and various development
tools (many of which are open source) used during the construction of .NET applications.
Chapter 1: The Philosophy of .NET
This first chapter functions as the backbone for the remainder of the text. The primary goal of this
chapter is to acquaint you with a number of .NET-centric building blocks, such as the Common
Language Runtime (CLR), Common Type System (CTS), Common Language Specification (CLS), and
base class libraries. Here, you will take an initial look at the C# programming language and the .NET
assembly format. As well, you will learn the role of the .NET platform within the Windows 8 operating
system, and understand the distinction between a Windows 8 app and a .NET application.
Chapter 2: Building C# Applications
The goal of this chapter is to introduce you to the process of compiling C# source code files using various
tools and techniques. You will begin by learning how to use the command-line compiler (csc.exe) and
C# response files. Over the remainder of the chapter, you will examine numerous code editors and
integrated development environments (IDEs), including Notepad++, SharpDevelop, Visual C# Express,
and Visual Studio. You will also learn how to configure your development machine with a local
installation of the all-important .NET Framework 4.5 SDK documentation.
Part II: Core C# Programming
The topics presented in this part of the book are quite important because you will use them regardless of
which type of .NET software you intend to develop (e.g., web applications, desktop GUI applications,
code libraries, or Windows services). Here, you will learn about the fundamental data types of .NET,
work with text manipulation, and learn the role of various C# parameter modifiers (including optional
and named arguments).
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