Essential C# 3.0: For .NET Framework 3.5, 2nd Edition

Praise for Essential C# 3.0 

“If you want to be a C# developer, or if you want to enhance your C# programming skills, there is no more useful tool than a well-crafted book on the subject. You are holding such a book in your hands.”

–From the Foreword by Charlie Calvert, Community Program Manager, Visual C#, Microsoft

 

“In a time when you can search online for any reference material, Essential C# 3.0 is the one book I still bother to carry in my bag. Any developer can hit F1 for help with the language syntax; this book, however, arms me with the knowledge to make better design and coding decisions (and the confidence to say so). You know when a book has more than twenty pages of index that it’s got depth covered, and although Essential C# 3.0 has introductory chapters, it progresses effortlessly into the lesser known corners of the language, which makes this book indispensible to any level of C# developer.”

–Troy Magennis, C# MVP and creator of HookedOnLINQ.com

 

“If you are new to C#, as I was, Mark’s book is an excellent way to start. His approach takes you step by step through the structure and syntax of the language, making it easy to understand how things work. I found the code samples extremely helpful and supportive of the concepts being discussed.”

–Robert Stokesbary, senior consultant, Option Explicit

 

“This book expands on the concepts introduced in Essential C# 2.0 to include C# 3.0 enhancements. One great aspect of this book is that it not only covers the new 3.0 enhancements in great detail, but it also shows where it makes sense to utilize these new features over the existing 2.0 features. While I have been programming C# for many years, I find myself referring to this book often and always seem to find something new buried in the pages. This is a must-read for both the C# newbie as well as the C# seasoned veteran.”

–Michael Stokesbary, senior software engineer, Itron Inc.

 

Praise for the First Edition 

“Essential C# 2.0 pulls off a very difficult task. The early chapters are comprehensible by beginning developers, while the later chapters pull no punches and provide the experienced developer with the detailed information they need to make the most of C# 2.0. Starting with the first chapter, Mark has successfully interwoven tidbits of information useful to even the most advanced developer while keeping the book approachable.”

–Chris Kinsman, chief architect, Vertafore, Microsoft Regional Director

 

“How refreshing! This book deals with C# thoroughly, rather than skimming over the whole .NET framework. It is valuable to newcomers and professionals alike.”

–Jon Skeet, C# MVP

 

“Essential C# 2.0 is a one-stop shop for an experienced programmer looking to ramp up on one of the hottest languages around today. Mark delivers an intelligent and detailed tour of C#, providing newcomers to the language with a solid foundation of skill on which to build their next generation of applications.”

–Stephen Toub, technical editor, MSDN Magazine

 

“This book provides complete, up-to-date coverage of all the programming constructs in C#. Masterfully organized, it allows beginning programmers to get on board and leads more experienced programmers into the world of structured programming. Because of its unwavering focus on the essential programming constructs of C#–such as generics, delegates, and much more–this book is indispensable. For programmers who want to solve their day-to-day programming issues using the latest features this modern programming language has to offer, this book is indispensable.”

–Narendra Poflee, IT integration specialist, Itron Inc.

 

“Essential C# 2.0 is an ideal book for all programmers interested in C#. If you are a beginner, you will quickly learn the basics of C# programming and become familiar with the concepts. The flow of the text is easy to follow and does a great job of not repeating concepts that have already been covered. For the experienced programmer, this book has priceless nuggets embedded within its pages, making it a great read for programmers who are already familiar with C#. This will be a book that I will keep next to my computer for years to come.”

–Michael Stokesbary, software engineer, Itron Inc.

Essential C# 3.0 is an extremely well-written and well-organized “no-fluff” guide to C# 3.0, which will appeal to programmers at all levels of experience with C#. This fully updated edition dives deep into the new features that are revolutionizing programming, with brand new chapters covering query expressions, lambda expressions, extension methods, collection interface extensions, standard query operators, and LINQ as a whole.

 

Author Mark Michaelis covers the C# language in depth, and each importantconstruct is illustrated with succinct, relevant code examples. (Complete code examples are available online.) Graphical “mind maps” at the beginning of each chapter show what material is covered and how each topic relates to the whole. Topics intended for beginners and advanced readers are clearly marked.

 

Following an introduction to C#, readers learn about 

• C# primitive data types, value types, reference types, type conversions, and arrays
• Operators and control flow, loops, conditional logic, and sequential programming
• Methods, parameters, exception handling, and structured programming
• Classes, inheritance, structures, interfaces, and object-oriented programming
• Well-formed types, operator overloading, namespaces, and garbage collection
• Generics, collections, custom collections, and iterators
• Delegates and lambda expressions
• Standard query operators and query expressions
• LINQ: language integrated query
• Reflection, attributes, and declarative programming
• Threading, synchronization, and multithreaded patterns
• Interoperability and unsafe code
• The Common Language Infrastructure that underlies C# 

Whether you are just starting out as a programmer, are an experienced developer looking to learn C#, or are a seasoned C# programmer interested in learning the new features of C# 3.0, Essential C# 3.0 gives you just what you need to quickly get up and running writing C# applications.

Figures xxiii

Tables xxv

Foreword xxvii

Preface xxxi

Acknowledgments xliii

About the Author xlv

 

Chapter 1: Introducing C# 1

Hello, World 2

Working with Variables 12

Comments 19

 

Chapter 2: Data Types 31

Fundamental Numeric Types 32

More Fundamental Types 40

null and void 51

Categories of Types 55

Nullable Modifier 57

Conversions between Data Types 58

Arrays 65

 

Chapter 3: Operators and Control Flow 83

Operators 84

Introducing Flow Control 98

Code Blocks ({}) 105

Scope 107

Boolean Expressions 108

Bitwise Operators (<<, >>, |, &, ^, ~) 114

Control Flow Statements, Continued 119

Jump Statements 130

C# Preprocessor Directives 136

 

Chapter 4: Methods and Parameters 147

Calling a Method 148

Declaring a Method 155

The using Directive 160

Returns and Parameters on Main() 164

Parameters 167

Recursion 174

Method Overloading 177

Basic Error Handling with Exceptions 180

 

Chapter 5: Classes 195

Defining and Instantiating a Class 199

Instance Fields 203

Instance Methods 205

Using the this Keyword 206

Access Modifiers 213

Properties 215

Constructors 229

Static 239

Extension Methods 249

Encapsulating the Data 250

Nested Classes 252

Partial Classes 254

 

Chapter 6: Inheritance 261

Derivation 262

Overriding the Base Class 272

Abstract Classes 284

Everything Ultimately Derives from System.Object 290

Verifying the Underlying Type with the is Operator 292

Conversion Using the as Operator 293

 

Chapter 7: Interfaces 295

Introducing Interfaces 296

Polymorphism through Interfaces 297

Interface Implementation 302

Casting between the Implementing Class and Its Interfaces 307

Interface Inheritance 308

Multiple Interface Inheritance 310

Extension Methods on Interfaces 311

Implementing Multiple Inheritance via Interfaces 313

Versioning 315

Interfaces Compared with Classes 317

 

Chapter 8: Value Types 321

Structs 322

Boxing 329

Enums 335

 

Chapter 9: Well-Formed Types 347

Overriding object Members 347

Operator Overloading 358

Referencing Other Assemblies 365

Defining Namespaces 370

XML Comments 373

Garbage Collection 377

Resource Cleanup 381

 

Chapter 10: Exception Handling 389

Multiple Exception Types 389

Catching Exceptions 391

General Catch Block 392

Guidelines for Exception Handling 395

Defining Custom Exceptions 397

 

Chapter 11: Generics 405

C# without Generics 406

Introducing Generic Types 411

Constraints 423

Generic Methods 436

Generic Internals 440

 

Chapter 12: Delegates and Lambda Expressions 445

Introducing Delegates 446

Anonymous Methods 456

System-Defined Delegates: Func<> 459

Lambda Expressions 460

 

Chapter 13: Events 479

Coding the Observer Pattern with Multicast Delegates 480

Events 495

 

Chapter 14: Collection Interfaces with Standard Query Operators 507

Anonymous Types and Implicit Local Variable Declaration 508

Collection Initializers 514

What Makes a Class a Collection: IEnumerable<T> 517

Standard Query Operators 523

 

Chapter 15: Query Expressions 555

Introducing Query Expressions 556

Query Expressions as Method Invocations 573

 

Chapter 16: Building Custom Collections 577

More Collection Interfaces 578

Primary Collection Classes 583

Providing an Index Operator 597

Returning Null or an Empty Collection 601

Iterators 601

 

Chapter 17: Reflection and Attributes 617

Reflection 618

Attributes 629

 

Chapter 18: Multithreading 657

Running and Controlling a Separate Thread 660

Passing Parameters to Threads 665

Thread Pooling 669

Unhandled Exceptions 670

Synchronization 672

Timers 691

 

Chapter 19: Multithreading Patterns 699

Asynchronous Results Pattern 700

Background Worker Pattern 714

Windows Forms 719

 

Chapter 20: Platform Interoperability and Unsafe Code 723

Platform Invoke 724

Pointers and Addresses 738

 

Chapter 21: The Common Language Infrastructure 749

Defining the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) 750

CLI Implementations 751

C# Compilation to Machine Code 752

Runtime 755

Application Domains 760

Assemblies, Manifests, and Modules 761

Common Intermediate Language (CIL) 764

Common Type System (CTS) 764

Common Language Specification (CLS) 765

Base Class Library (BCL) 766

Metadata 766

 

Appendix A: Downloading and Installing the C# Compiler and the CLI Platform 771

 

Appendix B: Full Source Code Listings 775

 

Appendix C: C# 3.0 Topics 801

 

Index 807