Coding

Best C# Books & Online Courses for Beginners – Experts Choice

May 31, 2020

Computer programmers have a wide range of languages that have been entirely in vogue and picking the right language will decide the future that they can be assured of. C#, labeled, C Sharp is one of the best ever languages for the beginners and professional alike and has become one of the hot favorites for the computer fraternity the world over.

best c# book for beginners

The active support and development received by Microsoft have been one of the prime reasons that have made C# a perfect option to make a beginning in the realm of computer proficiency. If you are looking to build a career in web development and in allied areas, learning C# should be one of the prime options you would want to go with.

Best C# Books for Beginners – A Comprehensive List

The right way to learn a programming language would be to learn the syntax and structure of the language along with the basic concepts. However, the best approach would be to put into practice what you have learned through the theory. The more you practice, the efficient you would turn out to be.

The best C# book, if you are a beginner, should preferably be easy to follow and understand. From that perspective, we would rate Learn C# in One Day and Learn it Well to be a perfect choice ever. While the title may be a marketing gimmick, the contents of the book are not. What we liked the lost with the book is the considerable number of exercises and a progression based discussion within the book.

In your search for learning C# and its basic concepts, a proper sort of book can prove to be essential and vital. With a considerable number of books available on C# for the beginners, it may indeed be a little troublesome to pick the best options.

That is precisely why we set out in our journey to share the best C# books for the beginners through this thorough compilation.

Learn C# in One Day and Learn it Well

If you are an absolute beginner in the programming language sphere, this should be the right C# book for you. In fact, the book has been written in a lucid and straightforward style and boasts of teaching you how to write your code in C# in just ONE day!

Buy This Book on Amazon

The book, written by Jamie Chan, covers almost all the fundamental concepts of C# and lets you begin mastering the language from day one.

Features of Learn C# in One Day and Learn it Well
  • It offers you an exhaustive source for learning the basic concepts of the language.
  • The book comes with a considerable number of hands-on exercises that would help you learn the language rather quickly and easily enough.
  • It also lets you understand Visual Studio and the basic concepts of Visual C#
  • Carefully chosen C# examples that would help you understand the core principles.
  • A to the point style makes it easy to learn the language.

The prime concept of learning a programming language revolves around practicing, and this is one book that meets the goal by providing plenty of exercises from real-life scenarios.

C# in Depth

If you are not a total newbie and have prior knowledge of some other programming language, C# in Depth should play a significant role in helping you learn C# preferably in a straightforward manner without much going into the basics. The simple, yet innovative approach used in writing the book should ideally go a long way in promoting your use of the book more positively. In fact, we would recommend the book for both beginners and experts alike.

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The book consists of more than 600 pages of lessons and exercises. The extreme guided nature of the lessons makes it rather more comfortable to learn the language. The book is currently in the third edition and covers a wide range of areas that include generics, lambda expressions, dynamic typing, and the newer async/await in C# 5+.

Features of C# in Depth
  • In addition to learning the language, it doubles up as a great option as a reference book as well.
  • It does take an in-depth look at different aspects of the programming language
  • The book follows a progression like an appearance and provides you access to a step by step approach.
  • It should be one of the excellent options for a serious programmer. With a huge set of information available on the book.
  • It provides you access to complete information on various aspects such as generics, lambda expressions, dynamic typing, LINQ, iterator blocks, and other features.

In its third edition, the book has been redesigned with plenty of information on the latest features of C#5. You can learn the complete subtlety of writing maintainable asynchronous code.

Beginning C#: Object-Oriented Programming

This is yet another exciting option for learning the fundamentals of C# programming and software development in Microsoft Technologies. While it may be quite difficult to learn a development language, the book makes it rather easy and simple to learn it.

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Now in 6th edition, the book does cater to almost every aspect of learning the fundamentals of C#. In fact, the book even lets you learn how to use Visual Studio 2015. It also enables you to learn .NET 4.6 and C# 6.0.

Feature of Beginning C#: Object-Oriented Programming
  • An excellent book for moving towards Windows software development.
  • The concepts such as Control structures, event handlers, data validation and unit testing are handled in a beginner-friendly manner.
  • The focus of the book is to let you learn how to create business programs with C#.
  • It should be one of the great books for intermediate level developers in C#
  • It can double up as an excellent training reference.

On completion of the book, you will be able to master yourself in the creation of object-oriented Windows Forms applications. You can learn Core C# and Visual Studio C#. No matter whether you are looking to learn to program of applications for Windows, the web, or mobile devices, this book should be one of the perfect choices.

C# 6 for Programmers

The book C# 6 for Programmers is indeed one of the best options ever. If you are new to programming languages and looking to learn C# afresh, this should be one of the excellent option you would want to go with. While the book comes with the best features in every respect, you would find it offering a wonderful learning experience through a unique teaching technique.

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Access to real-life examples and applications is one of the best features we found rather impressive on the product. The book begins with a natural explanation for classes and objects and then moves to explain the best features such as LINQ, asynchronous programming with async and await, and a host of other aspects.

Features of C# 6 for Programmers
  • The book can be used on Windows 7,8 or 10 for learning C#
  • A complete introduction and explanation of C#6. It covers a wide range of topics that include string interpolation, expression-bodied methods and properties, auto-implemented property initializers, getter-only properties, nameof, null-conditional operator, exception filters and more.
  • The easy to understand, yet challenging codes.
  • A deeper treatment of each of the elements of the programming language.
  • The book focusses primarily on the software engineering principles.

The book will remain your hot favorite for almost every aspect as a reference book. That would be what would make it an excellent option for beginners in learning practically every concept of the language.

C# 6.0 and the .NET 4.6 Framework

Every new version of C# comes with a huge number of changes and enhancements. The C#6 also comes with a few improved features – do note, however, that the current version of C# as on today is version 8.0. The book in question attempts to address the techniques, improvements and new features on C#6.0 and .NET framework 4.6.

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While designed to teach you C#, the book primarily talks about ASP.NET. That should be something you would not find something uncommon because, as a matter of fact, you cannot separate C#6 from .NET. The book truly comes across as one of the greatest ever options and helps you get access to a wonderful experience in terms of learning core C# features.

Features of C# 6.0 and the .NET 4.6 Framework
  • It can work out to be an enhanced and perfect option for learning and understanding the concepts of C#6 and .NET 4.6
  • The complete overview of .NET technology
  • It can help you gain access to an explicit knowledge of XAML, .NET 4.6 and Visual Studio 2015

The book may not be the right option if you are an extreme beginner in terms of a programming language. But, if you even have a good enough knowledge of how does a programming language works, the book should work wonders for a beginner.

Recommended Reading:

Few Courses that can be much helpful in learning C#6

Well, now that we know of a few good books that can be good enough for the beginners in C#, how about checking out a few courses that can be helpful enough? Let us check out a few excellent online courses run by renowned institutes.

Complete C# Unity Developer 3D

This is one of the best games for learning how to code games easily with C#. If you are well versed in the concept of C#, you would also be aware that Unity provides you with an exceptional choice of learning C#.

Check This Course on Udemy

The online course lets you learn C# right from scratch. That is precisely what would make it one of the best options for the beginners to learn C#. In addition to letting you learn C# as a language, it also enables you to focus on learning how to design a video game.

Some of the features that should make it a formidable choice would be

  • The course lets you develop a habit of developing a positive attitude to coding
  • You would gain access to proper coding and design patterns.
  • The course provides you with a complete learning Unity 2017 which is one of the very versatile 3D tools
  • You would learn 2.5D and 3D games in Unity with ease.
  • The course comes with practical exercises which can further enhance your knowledge base

The course consists of 218 lectures and can be completed in 33 hours. It has indeed been considered to be one of the most popular courses when it comes to e-learning on the internet.

Complete C# Unity Developer 2D

This is the similar course like the one we discussed above, but focusses on a 2D game. The course focusses on understanding C# in an easy to follow and simple manner. What makes it one of the finest courses for those desirous of learning C# is that it lets you learn the language without any sort of difficulties.

Check This Course on Udemy

Some of the features offered by the platform would include

  • The course does not need you to have any previous knowledge in any programming language.
  • You can also learn the concept of how does an object-oriented programming language would offer.
  • It helps you learn playable game objects with the help of C# and Unity.
  • The curse is designed to provide you access to a truly enhanced experience in coding skills

The course has been one of the huge successes on Udemy, and the popularity of the course has made Udemy build a remastered version of the course in Unity.

Learning C#

Well, this is one of the popular options for learning C# through online mode. Authored by Gerry O’Brien, the course includes the details of every core element of the language. You can gain insightful knowledge in learning different data types, variables, and constants.

Check This Course on Lynda

One of the best features we found quite interesting on the platform is it does let you have a complete understanding of Windows Phone and Windows Store apps. The course consists of five challenge videos that can be used to test your knowledge, while you can check out another five videos to understanding the answers to those questions.

A few features offered by the program include

  • The course lets you learn how to work with loops.
  • It also lets you learn how to manage the resources with garbage collection
  • The course focusses on letting you learn the fundamentals of c#7.0

FAQs You May Be Interested In:

Well, having checked out the best books for C# beginners, let us now check out a few FAQs that have always bothered you.

Q – How can the books be helpful in learning C#?
Answer – C# is a perfect language that can be helpful in learning the video games or even the interactive apps with ease. The right kind of books can be quite helpful in letting you pick the threats in its right spirit. In fact, the books can be your best friends if you are looking for self-learning exercises.
Q – Is there any difference in the books chosen for beginners and experts in C#?
Answer – Well, that should be quite obvious. You need to pick the books that offer a comfortable learning path for beginners. However, most of the books featured here are designed to provide the best possible experience for both beginners and experts alike. If you are an expert, you can skip a few of the initial chapters and move straight to the specific sections you are looking ahead to.
Q – Where would be able to get the best books?
Answer –Amazon provides you access to a few great books you can choose from.  Do note that you can select any of the versions of the book depending on the availability and your preferences. Get access to the paperback editions, or even Kindle edition if you choose to.

The Concluding Thoughts

Well, that was all about a few good options for the best C# books for beginners. In addition to the books, we have also shared a few great options for the best online courses that can prove to be handy enough in the long run.

C# is a powerful language, but still, it does provide you access to a wonderful learning experience. We assume the books shared here should ideally be the best options for getting access to the best training experience ever.

About the author

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Timmappa Kamat

Timmappa Kamat is interested in technology and allied subjects and loves sharing the knowledge through the tech-savvy websites as a freelancer. He has been involved in providing content for a host of technology-based sites on day to day topics in the tech arena.