A reader wrote to me today asking for some good resources for learning the C# language, The reader specifically asked about books, and while I can’t recommend a book for learning C# I can recommend a few of the resources that I use most often.
MSDN
MSDN or the Microsoft Developer Network is the seminal source for information about the .NET framework and contains all of the Microsoft supplied API documentation as well as articles and columns specific to given technologies or topics.
Stack Overflow
If you have a specific programming related question then Stack Overflow is the place to get it answered. This website has been invaluable for those times whenI I’ve been really stuck, or needed the opinion or guidance of other developers.
CodeProject
These guys have some amazing articles and discussion on programming on just about every major platform and technology. CodeProject publishes articles about code, and most of those articles have sample code or projects that you can learn from.
Coding4Fun
This is a Microsoft community dedicated to coding for fun that was launched around the same time that the first pre-release versions of Visual Studio 2005 Express were released. The emphasis is on fun and they have a great section for beginner.
Microsoft “How Do I” Video Series
These are a series of videos aimed at the complete beginner so if you’re new to coding, or if you are new to a specific technology area and want to start off in the shallow end of the pool, this is the place for you.
I can’t say I’ve read too many programming books cover to cover in my journey so far but one I keep coming back to is The Pragmatic Programmer. This book explores how we code, pointing out common patterns and pitfalls and making design and refactoring suggestions. This is not the type of book you sit down and read once but one that you read repeatedly as a reference as and when the need arises.
I do plan to read Code Complete in the future as it seams to be well recommended by a fairly wide spectrum of people
If you have any questions, suggestions or comments please feel free to leave them in the comments or follow me on twitter.
