C# 7.0 All-in-One For Dummies

C# know-how is a must if you want to be a professional Microsoft developer. It's also good to know a little C# if you're building tools for the web, mobile apps, or other development tasks. C# 7.0 All-in-One For Dummies offers a deep dive into C# for coders still learning the nuances of the valuable programming language. Pop it open to get an intro into coding with C#, how to design secure apps and databases, and even pointers on building web and mobile apps with C#.

C# remains one of the most in-demand programming language skills. The language regularly ranks in the top five among "most in-demand" languages, typically along with Java/JavaScript, C++, and Python. A December 2016 ZDNet article noted 'If your employer is a Microsoft developer, you better know C#." Lucky for you, this approachable, all-in-one guide is here to help you do just that?without ever breaking a sweat!

Includes coverage of the latest changes to C#

• Shows you exactly what the language can (and can't) do
• Presents familiar tasks that you can accomplish with C#
• Provides insight into developing applications that provide protection against hackers

If you have a basic understanding of coding and need to learn C#?or need a reference on the language in order to launch or further your career?look no further.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 4

Book 1: The Basics of C# Programming 5

Chapter 1: Creating Your First C# Console Application 7

Getting a Handle on Computer Languages, C#, and .NET 7

Creating Your First Console Application 11

Making Your Console App Do Something 17

Reviewing Your Console Application 18

Introducing the Toolbox Trick 21

Chapter 2: Living with Variability — Declaring Value-Type Variables 23

Declaring a Variable 24

What’s an int? 25

Representing Fractions 27

Handling Floating-Point Variables 28

Using the Decimal Type: Is it an Integer or a Float? 31

Examining the bool Type: Is it Logical? 33

Checking Out Character Types 33

What’s a Value Type? 36

Comparing string and char 37

Calculating Leap Years: DateTime 38

Declaring Numeric Constants 40

Changing Types: The Cast 41

Letting the C# Compiler Infer Data Types 42

Chapter 3: Pulling Strings 45

The Union is Indivisible, and So are Strings 46

Performing Common Operations on a String 48

Comparing Strings 48

What If I Want to Switch Case? 53

Looping through a String 54

Searching Strings 55

Getting Input from the Command Line 57

Controlling Output Manually 62

Formatting Your Strings Precisely 68

StringBuilder: Manipulating Strings More Efficiently 73

Chapter 4: Smooth Operators 75

Performing Arithmetic 75

Performing Logical Comparisons — Is That Logical? 79

Matching Expression Types at TrackDownAMate.com 83

Chapter 5: Getting into the Program Flow 89

Branching Out with if and switch 90

Here We Go Loop-the-Loop 101

Looping a Specified Number of Times with for 112

Nesting Loops 115

Don’t goto Pieces 116

Chapter 6: Lining Up Your Ducks with Collections 119

The C# Array 120

Processing Arrays by Using foreach 126

Sorting Arrays of Data 128

Using var for Arrays 132

Loosening Up with C# Collections 133

Understanding Collection Syntax 134

Using Lists 136

Using Dictionaries 139

Array and Collection Initializers 141

Using Sets 142

On Not Using Old-Fashioned Collections 147

Chapter 7: Stepping through Collections 149

Iterating through a Directory of Files 149

Iterating foreach Collections: Iterators 157

Accessing Collections the Array Way: Indexers 160

Looping Around the Iterator Block 165

Chapter 8: Buying Generic 177

Writing a New Prescription: Generics 178

Classy Generics: Writing Your Own 179

Revising Generics 197

Chapter 9: Some Exceptional Exceptions 201

Using an Exceptional Error-Reporting Mechanism 202

Throwing Exceptions Yourself 207

Knowing What Exceptions are for 207

Can I Get an Exceptional Example? 208

Assigning Multiple catch Blocks 211

Planning Your Exception-Handling Strategy 214

Grabbing Your Last Chance to Catch an Exception 219

Throwing Expressions 220

Chapter 10: Creating Lists of Items with Enumerations 223

Seeing Enumerations in the Real World 224

Working with Enumerations 225

Creating Enumerated Flags 228

Defining Enumerated Switches 230

Book 2: Object-Oriented C# Programming 233

Chapter 1: Object-Oriented Programming — What’s it All About? 235

Object-Oriented Concept #1: Abstraction 235

Object-Oriented Concept #2: Classification 238

Why Classify? 238

Object-Oriented Concept #3: Usable Interfaces 239

Object-Oriented Concept #4: Access Control 240

How C# Supports Object-Oriented Concepts 241

Chapter 2: Showing Some Class 243

Defining a Class and an Object 244

Accessing the Members of an Object 246

An Object-Based Program Example 247

Discriminating between Objects 249

Can You Give Me References? 249

Classes That Contain Classes are the Happiest Classes in the World 252

Generating Static in Class Members 253

Defining const and readonly Data Members 255

Chapter 3: We Have Our Methods 257

Defining and Using a Method 257

A Method Example for Your Files 259

Having Arguments with Methods 267

Returning Values after Christmas 275

Returning Multiple Values Using Tuples 279

Chapter 4: Let Me Say This about this 283

Passing an Object to a Method 283

Defining Methods 285

Accessing the Current Object 290

Using Local Functions 298

Chapter 5: Holding a Class Responsible 301

Restricting Access to Class Members 301

Why You Should Worry about Access Control 306

Defining Class Properties 312

Getting Your Objects Off to a Good Start — Constructors 315

The C#-Provided Constructor 316

Replacing the Default Constructor 317

Using Expression-Bodied Members 324

Chapter 6: Inheritance: Is That All I Get? 329

Class Inheritance 330

Why You Need Inheritance 332

Inheriting from a BankAccount Class (a More Complex Example) 333

IS_A versus HAS_A — I’m So Confused_A 336

When to IS_A and When to HAS_A 340

Other Features That Support Inheritance 340

The object Class 344

Inheritance and the Constructor 345

The Updated BankAccount Class 350

Chapter 7: Poly-what-ism? 357

Overloading an Inherited Method 358

Polymorphism 366

The Class Business Card: ToString() 374

C# During Its Abstract Period 374

Sealing a Class 383

Chapter 8: Interfacing with the Interface 385

Introducing CAN_BE_USED_AS 385

Knowing What an Interface is 387

Using an Interface 391

Using the C# Predefined Interface Types 392

Looking at a Program That CAN_BE_USED_AS an Example 393

Unifying Class Hierarchies 401

Hiding Behind an Interface 403

Inheriting an Interface 406

Using Interfaces to Manage Change in Object-Oriented Programs 407

Chapter 9: Delegating Those Important Events 411

E.T., Phone Home — The Callback Problem 412

Defining a Delegate 412

Pass Me the Code, Please — Examples 414

A More Real-World Example 417

Shh! Keep it Quiet — Anonymous Methods 426

Stuff Happens — C# Events 427

Chapter 10: Can I Use Your Namespace in the Library? 435

Dividing a Single Program into Multiple Source Files 436

Dividing a Single Program into Multiple Assemblies 437

Putting Your Classes into Class Libraries 440

Going Beyond Public and Private: More Access Keywords 446

Putting Classes into Namespaces 452

Chapter 11: Improving Productivity with Named and Optional Parameters 459

Exploring Optional Parameters 460

Looking at Named Parameters 464

Dealing with Overload Resolution 465

Using Alternative Methods to Return Values 466

Chapter 12: Interacting with Structures 469

Comparing Structures to Classes 470

Creating Structures 472

Using Structures as Records 479

Book 3: Designing for C# 483

Chapter 1: Writing Secure Code 485

Designing Secure Software 486

Building Secure Windows Applications 488

Building Secure Web Forms Applications 493

Using System.Security 498

Chapter 2: Accessing Data 499

Getting to Know System.Data 500

How the Data Classes Fit into the Framework 502

Getting to Your Data 502

Using the System.Data Namespace 503

Chapter 3: Fishing the File Stream 521

Going Where the Fish are: The File Stream 521

StreamWriting for Old Walter 524

Pulling Them Out of the Stream: Using StreamReader 536

More Readers and Writers 540

Exploring More Streams than Lewis and Clark 542

Chapter 4: Accessing the Internet 543

Getting to Know System.Net 544

How Net Classes Fit into the Framework 545

Using the System.Net Namespace 547

Chapter 5: Creating Images 559

Getting to Know System.Drawing 560

How the Drawing Classes Fit into the Framework 563

Using the System.Drawing Namespace 564

Chapter 6: Programming Dynamically! 571

Shifting C# Toward Dynamic Typing 572

Employing Dynamic Programming Techniques 574

Putting Dynamic to Use 576

Running with the Dynamic Language Runtime 579

Book 4: A Tour of Visual Studio 583

Chapter 1: Getting Started with Visual Studio 585

Versioning the Versions 586

Installing Visual Studio 590

Breaking Down the Projects 592

Chapter 2: Using the Interface 597

Designing in the Designer 597

Paneling the Studio 605

Coding in the Code Editor 612

Using the Tools of the Trade 616

Using the Debugger as an Aid to Learning 618

Chapter 3: Customizing Visual Studio 623

Setting Options 624

Using Snippets 628

Hacking the Project Types 634

Book 5: Windows Development with WPF 641

Chapter 1: Introducing WPF 643

Understanding What WPF Can Do 643

Introducing XAML 645

Diving In! Creating Your First WPF Application 646

Chapter 2: Understanding the Basics of WPF 653

Using WPF to Lay Out Your Application 654

Arranging Elements with Layout Panels 655

Exploring Common XAML Controls 671

Chapter 3: Data Binding in WPF 681

Getting to Know Dependency Properties 681

Exploring the Binding Modes 682

Investigating the Binding Object 683

Editing, Validating, Converting, and Visualizing Your Data 687

Finding Out More about WPF Data Binding 704

Chapter 4: Practical WPF 705

Commanding Attention 705

Using Built-In Commands 708

Using Custom Commands 711

Using Routed Commands 716

Book 6: Web Development with ASP.NET 721

Chapter 1: Looking at How ASP.NET Works with C# 723

Breaking Down Web Applications 724

Questioning the Client 726

Dealing with Web Servers 730

Chapter 2: Building Web Applications 735

Working in Visual Studio 736

Developing with Style 749

Chapter 3: Controlling Your Development Experience 753

Showing Stuff to the User 754

Getting Some Input from the User 760

Data Binding 767

Styling Your Controls 775

Making Sure the Site is Accessible 777

Constructing User Controls 779

Chapter 4: Leveraging the .NET Framework 783

Surfing Web Streams 784

Securing ASP.NET 789

Managing Files 791

Baking Cookies 792

Tracing with TraceContext 796

Navigating with Site Maps 798

Index 801

John Paul Mueller is a writer on programming topics like AWS, Python, Java, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. William Sempf is a programmer and .NET evangelist. Chuck Sphar was a full-time senior technical writer for the Visual C++ product group at Microsoft.