Rating: 
Summary: Good Tutorial on C#
Review: Like most of the 21 Day books, this one does a good job taking the reader through the basic aspects of its subject matter. The book says it's written for novice programmers-- I'd take that with a grain of salt. If you haven't programmed before, C# can be a difficult place to start, and this book won't really make it much easier. But if you have had experience with VBA in Excel or other programs, or if you are in an experienced VB programmer, this book will ease you into C# without undue difficulty. Lots of quizzes and exercises, so you can check your progress as you go along and apply what you are learning. Only one chapter on the .Net Framework, and only one on Web programming, but these topics are dense enough that you would probably want a separate book on each topic. So, one can't really fault Jones for only touvhing lightly here. Two chapters on WinForms and Windows applications, with the rest of the text focused mainly on console apps to demonstrate the language.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor book for current programmers looking to move to C#
Review: The book is very barebones and basic. It does not cover anything in depth and you will find that you will need another book to help you with your project if you are counting on this one to do so. I find the topics discussed to be poorly documented and for a senior level developer moving to C# this book is not for you. Try APress's "C# and the .net platform" by Andrew Troelson (EXCELLENT BOOK..that has everything you will need to know about .net covered in depth!)
Rating:
Summary: If you are using a command-line compiler
Review: Then this book may be a 4 or 5 star intro. I have done little to no programming, and am trying to learn with Visual Studio.NET, which made the first couple of chapters a nightmare- until I sat down in a bookstore and read the first two chapters of the Dummies book on C#, which told me what I needed to know about how to use the Visual Studio environment.Just a qualifying remark for people who are planning on learning C# as their first language using Visual Studio- look into one of the other books. Already know how to use VS? Maybe this book is for you. :-)
Rating:
Summary: If you are using a command-line compiler
Review: Then this book may be a 4 or 5 star intro. I have done little to no programming, and am trying to learn with Visual Studio.NET, which made the first couple of chapters a nightmare- until I sat down in a bookstore and read the first two chapters of the Dummies book on C#, which told me what I needed to know about how to use the Visual Studio environment. Just a qualifying remark for people who are planning on learning C# as their first language using Visual Studio- look into one of the other books. Already know how to use VS? Maybe this book is for you. :-)
Rating:
Summary: Excellent teaching manual
Review: This is by far the best ever introduction to C# programming that I have ever read.
Experienced programmers, especially those coming from a Java or C++ background, will be able to skim through the first few "days". Beginners to coding are introduced to fundamental principles such as variables, loops and conditions and then quickly move on to more interesting subjects.
The book's examples are better than most too, they are generally of sufficient length to be realistic while still illustrating the point.
The other highlight for me was an absence of typographical and more importantly technical errors. Spelling errors tend to distract and break up the flow when reading and when I see something that I know to be wrong I am always wary of trusting more advanced topics later.
I can't recommend this book enough for those wishing to venture into the world of C#.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad for a 21 day course
Review: This was a very good warm up. I started programming twenty years ago and lately wanted to try something different. The coding is good in most places and very readable. The best part was the consice writing of the authors. I highly recommend this for someone that has a little knowledge and is ready for more. This is also a good self-pace work.
Rating:
Summary: How Good It Is Depends on Where You Are Coming From
Review: This was the very first book that I picked up on C#, while I was using Beta 2 of the .NET Framework. I come from an ASP/VBScript and Visual Basic 6.0 background. Since my focus with C# was ASP.NET programming, it was less useful to me than a beginning C# book that would have focused on ASP.NET programming (Such as Wrox's beginning ASP.NET using C#) but of course, this book makes no such warranty. It's goal is to teach you the C# language, and on that count it works very well. But be warned, the lessons go very slowly until about Chapter 9. I think there would be a market for a book such as "Teach Yourself C# in 21 Days -- For VB Programmers" that could move faster (you used to do loops this way in VB, here's how to do it in C#.) You will probably be less than thrilled writing console applications as the book has you do, but I don't think one could come up with a better way to teach you C# from the ground up, without requiring the explicit use of Visual Studio.NET.
Rating:
Summary: How Good It Is Depends on Where You Are Coming From
Review: This was the very first book that I picked up on C#, while I was using Beta 2 of the .NET Framework. I come from an ASP/VBScript and Visual Basic 6.0 background. Since my focus with C# was ASP.NET programming, it was less useful to me than a beginning C# book that would have focused on ASP.NET programming (Such as Wrox's beginning ASP.NET using C#) but of course, this book makes no such warranty. It's goal is to teach you the C# language, and on that count it works very well. But be warned, the lessons go very slowly until about Chapter 9. I think there would be a market for a book such as "Teach Yourself C# in 21 Days -- For VB Programmers" that could move faster (you used to do loops this way in VB, here's how to do it in C#.) You will probably be less than thrilled writing console applications as the book has you do, but I don't think one could come up with a better way to teach you C# from the ground up, without requiring the explicit use of Visual Studio.NET.
Rating:
Summary: Teaches Command prompt programming only, NO IDE
Review: Very good book for quickly learning the basics of C#. However, it ignores the best part of Visual Studio... the IDE.
Why don't any of the C# books teach you how to program using the Integrated Development Environment? Yes it's important to know the basics by using the command prompt. But the fun way is by using the IDE. And it saves so much typing!
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