This book has existed, in one form or another, since the first release of C# and the .NET Platform was
published in step with Microsoft’s release of .NET 1.0 Beta 2 (circa the summer of 2001). Since that point,
I have been extremely happy to see that this text continues to be very well received by the press. Over the
years, it was nominated as a 2002 Jolt Award finalist (I lost, but hey, life goes on); it was also awarded the
2003 Referenceware Excellence Award for programming book of the year.
More importantly, I have been very grateful to receive e-mails from readers all around the world. It is
very cool to chat with so many people who have told me this book has helped their careers in some small
way. On a related note, I have to say that this book is better than it has ever been, thanks to the readers
who have send me various suggestions for improvements, pointed out typos in the text, and alerted me
to other glitches on my part.
I have also been taken aback to learn that this very book has been, and is being used, in college and
university settings, and is required reading for numerous undergraduate and graduate courses in the
field of computer science.
To the press, readers, and professors, I have nothing to say but thank you and happy programming!
In any case, since the initial release of this book, I have worked hard to keep the material current with
each release of the .NET platform. The fifth edition of this text, which you hold in your hands, has been
fully updated to provide coverage on the new features of the C# 2010 programming language, as well as
the new features of .NET 4.0 Platform. Here you will find information on the new Dynamic Language
Runtime (DLR), the Task Parallel Library (TPL), Parallel LINQ (PLINQ), the ADO.NET Entity Framework
(EF), and several “minor” (but very useful) updates, such as C# 2010 named arguments, C# 2010 optional
parameters, the Lazy<T> class type, and so on.
In addition to covering all the new bits, this book continues to provide you with a rock-solid foundation
of the C# language as a whole, the pillars of object oriented programming (OOP), assembly
configuration, database access (through ADO.NET), as well as the process of building desktop GUI
applications, web applications, and distributed systems (among other topics).
As with the earlier editions, this edition presents the C# programming language and .NET base class
libraries using a friendly and approachable tone (or so I have been told!). As well, this new edition
remains focused on providing you with the information you need to build software solutions today,
rather than spending too much time examining esoteric details that few individuals will ever actually
care about.
