In a perfect world, you can take your time to learn a new language. Perhaps take some classes, maybe study some books, and take the time to really hone your craft. Then again, if you are involved in information technology in the 21st century, while you are doing all that, someone else has just stolen your job and you are left out in the cold.

I've been there. If you haven't, you will. You want to move ahead in your career, but the only way is to have some experience to take on the next challenge. Perhaps it is an opportunity in your current job, or maybe for a new employer, but they need someone with skills in C#. You don't have the time and money to take classes, and you don't want to waste your time learning about if statements and for loops. You have some skills. That is where Accelerated C# 2008 comes in.

Accelerated C# 2008 was written to narrow that learning curve down so that you can quickly develop a true C# expertise. By presenting the right things and showing you the right way to use them, the author hopes to rid you of years of trial-and-error experience and get you coding like a C# expert. It is expected that you have some working knowledge of an object-oriented programming language such as C++, Java, or Visual Basic.NET. Accelerated C# 2008 is 510 pages and is divided into 16 chapters.

Chapter 1, "C# Preview," begins with an introduction into the C# programming environment, the differences between C# programming, and native C++ environment. You will get some fundamental of what a C# application looks like and how it works, as well as an overview of C# 2.0 and 3.0.

Chapter 2, "C# and the CLR," continues where chapter one left off and takes on the challenge of the managed environment that a C# application runs in: the Common Language Runtime (CLR). Here you are introduced to the basic building blocks of applications, assemblies, and how meta-data can make assemblies self-describing. You will also see how the CLR compiles, packages, and executes C# programs.

Chapter 3, "C# Syntax Overview," begins with a survey of the C# language. There is an expectation that you have some experience with C++ and/or Java and so builds from there, and then explores the two fundamental types within the CLR: the value types and reference types. Also explained are namespaces and how they can be used to logically partition types and functionality within your applications. Chapter 4, "Classes, Structs, and Objects," shows that everything is an object. Here you learn how to define types in C#, you learn more about value and reference types in the CLR, and you will see how inheritance works in C# as well as how every object derives from the System.Object type. There is also a lot of information on the managed environment as well.