Ooo a software forum!

[XPav]

So err, anyone know of a good book for an experienced C++ programmer looking to get quickly up to speed on C#? How about any books which reference using COM objects with C# and VB.NET?

C# looks very similar, so perhaps I should just go and try a small project.

[Kool Moe Dee]

I used one of the O'Reilly references to quickly get up to speed, and then just leaned on the MS docs for the rest of what I needed. There might be some good stuff online, but I haven't really looked. Experimentation, as always, was the most beneficial for me.

Using COM objects from C# is pretty damn simple, you can treat them just like any other object pretty much.

[Jason McCullough]

C# is pretty much Java without some of the stupid bits. If you've done any sort of Java RPC stuff you already know it all.

Oh, and if you haven't been doing OO in C++ (I swear to god, there's people out there they won't use the STL String class), then C# will pretty much force you to, thankfully.

I just read through the doc set; boring, but unless you really need to know the gory details on COM that'll do you.

[Chris Nahr]

First off, embrace the power of Microsoft Press or embrace your own DE-STRUCTION. They have the best line of .NET books, although a few interesting ones are available elsewhere. Now for the recommendations:

Mickey Williams, Microsoft Visual C# .NET, Microsoft Press 2002

Williams thankfully treats the Visual Studio IDE as an optional gadget and focuses on the language.

Jeffrey Richter, Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming, Microsoft Press 2002

The title is misleading and really just an attempt at continuity (you may have read Richter's "Applied Windows Programming" books). Actually this is the fundamental .NET book but it's quite involved. You may first want to read Williams' book to get you up to speed with the basic how-to stuff in this environment.

Don Box with Chris Sells, Essential .NET Vol. 1: The Common Language Runtime, Addison-Wesley 2003

I'm sure you know Don Box, and predictably he focuses on .NET vs COM and has also a chapter on COM interoperation. I don't generally recommend this book -- Richter covers much of the same ground and is a much better writer -- but since you're interested in COM programming you might find it quite useful.

Full book reviews here: http://www.kynosarges.de/DevBooks.html

You might even want to pick up Inside C# (2nd ed) which also has some COM stuff. Then again you might not since the book's presentation of the C# language is rather flawed -- it's by far the worst MS Press book I've read recently.

[tromik]

C# is pretty much Java without some of the stupid bits.

So it's exactly like vb.net then?

[Ergo]

On a side note, anyone recommend a good C++ learning book for someone who has never used that language?

[Stroker Ace]

yes, .NET languages all achieve the same effect in the end.

[Jason McCullough]

Yeah, it's hilarious how identical the various dotnet "languages" are.

[XPav]

Does VB.NET still stick its finger in its ears and claim that there's no such thing as signed bytes, and unsigned 16 and 32 bit integers?

[Jason McCullough]

Does VB.NET still stick its finger in its ears and claim that there's no such thing as signed bytes, and unsigned 16 and 32 bit integers?

None of these are CLR-compliant. Odd.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpconthenetframeworkclasslibrary.asp

[XPav]

Does VB.NET still stick its finger in its ears and claim that there's no such thing as signed bytes, and unsigned 16 and 32 bit integers?

None of these are CLR-compliant. Odd.

I work in industrial automation, and many devices, like PLCs, have explicit types like 16 bit unsigned counters. But NOOOOOO you can't use those with VB and now the CLR for some god knows why reason. I mean, how hard can it be? They've been in VARIANT forever, they've got VT_ IDs for them, but NOOOO we can't bother to have VB understand them because that would confuse people? I mean, they already completely changed VB when they went to .NET. Would it KILL them to put in these other data types?

Rant rant rant.

Oh, and I don't like Microsoft Press for the sole reason that I bought a "Visual Studio 6.0" book back in the day, and it was completely worthless. I have one Microsoft Press book on my bookshelf right now -- Code Complete. The rest are Addison-Wesley or O'Reilly.

[Chris Nahr]

Jesus, will you calm down already? Of course you can use unsigned integers with .NET and the CLR and C#. Just not with VB.NET, though you may be able to use the CLR types (System.UInt32 etc.) if you can accept some weird syntax.

"Not CLR compliant" means they are not ECMA standard compliant which doesn't really mean zip since you're only running on the Windows implementation of the .NET Framework anyway.

And the standard literature for .NET is Microsoft Press. Exclusively. Period. You simply won't understand .NET without Richter's book, at any rate. Go back to your commie Linux if you don't like it. :P

[Jason McCullough]

C# does have signed byte, uint32, and uint16 though.

[XPav]

C# does have signed byte, uint32, and uint16 though.

Well, yeah, but VB doesn't. Why doesn't VB? I don't want to write VB in the first place, but I have customers who do. I hate VB. VB is evil. Eeeevvvil.