Beginning C#

On recommendation I've decided to learn C# as my first desktop language. I've a good experience with PHP and MySQL under my belt but I'm completely new to desktop programming.

What I'm looking for is a good introductory tutorial into C# from the perspective of a new programmer. For example I've never done any memory management in PHP and I assume I'll need to in C#. If you could recommend any websites (I assume I'll be using MSDN a lot). I learn well from books if there are any specially good ones too.

Thanks

From stackoverflow Ross

• I found c# corner quite useful

  From Paulj

• you can try some of the posts here.

  http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5795/recommended-books-for-learning-c

  From Gulzar

• For experienced programmers I recommend Inside C# by Tom Archer and Andrew Whitechapel. It doesn't cover the latest changes to the language (e.g., Linq) but explains quite well how the language works and even why.

  Another good resource is the .NET Framework team's Design Guidelines at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229042.aspx.

  From fatcat1111

• Apress's Pro C# is a great book that will teach you both the C# language and quite a bit of the .Net class libraries, including GUIs, database access, multithreading, and even some ASP.Net.

  Also, C# does not require manual memory management :-)

  From Corey

• C# station is another possibility for a beginner's tutorial. I also like to keep formal references around when I learn something new, as a cross-reference to what I learn in the tutorial. So I also recommend the MSDN page for C#.

  Memory in C# is garbage collected, so memory management is not usually a concern. The principal difference you'll notice is explicitly declaring variables and their types.

  From Christian Oudard

• If you're familiar with PHP, then the basic syntax of C# should be familiar to you. If you've any experience with Java, that will help you out a lot. I was lucky enough to be introduced to C# whilst on an internship, so I was all but taught C#.

  However, having picked it up again in the last year or so, I found the trickiest bit was finding my way around the .NET framework. There are a number of books available on C# and .NET that you might want to investigate; Pro C# 2008 seems like a good (but slightly pricey) starting point. Your single best reference for the .NET framework is the MSDN documentation, either by visiting the MSDN website, or by using the "help" function in Visual Studio.

  I find asking friends and colleagues works quite well :-) And, of course, there's always Stack Overflow!

  From alastairs

• Regarding memory management, C# (well the CLR, the underlying common language runtime that all .Net languages sit on top of) is garbage collected the same as PHP, so the learning curve may not be as steep as you think in that regard, C# is not like C++

  The key issue is probably getting a good understanding of OO fundamentals, often you can survive in PHP with little knowledge of objects, inheritance, contracts etc. - or certainly to a lesser extent then in a language like C# or Java.

  I've introduced some friends to .Net development via the Express edition of products, which gives you a free development environment.

  Take a look at the VS2008 Express Site - download the environment - and then watch the Introductory Video and also check out the Beginner Developer Learning Center on MSDN which has links to other useful resources (MSDN is the Microsoft developers network, a useful resource for developers starting out on the Microsoft platform).

  Beyond that the C# corner as mentioned by Paul are good - there's also loads of other sites with similar tutorial content for beginners such as c# station - just do a quick google search for "C# beginner tutorials".

  Hope this helps start you down the path to becoming a .Net developer!

  From Bittercoder