C#, where to start?

Reppyboyo · 3 Dec 2020 at 20:17

Hi,

Been trying to learn C# to expand my career options but I've been struggling to say the least.
I've been following the lessions in CodeAcademy but I dont find them very well structured.

Is there any other recommended guides or lessons somewhere I can try?

Thanks all.

planty · 3 Dec 2020 at 21:05

What's your background?
Pluralsight is great. I've never used it to learn a language from scratch, but they have plenty of c# courses though for all abilities.

Crizzy · 4 Dec 2020 at 10:34

I came here to ask a similar question.

Pluralsight and LinkedIn learning are both quite good for courses.

But I can complete courses and the examples within until the cows come home, but I think the best way to learn is to try some real world programming, and looking for help when needed.

I guess it depends on your learning style, I tend to learn by doing stuff.

Also doing some projects outside of these courses will allow you to build a portfolio that you can show to potential employers, which is a bonus.

Therefore, as well as course recommendations for the OP can anyone suggest where to start with some challenges or projects that can be used as a staring point for building up a programming ' repertoire' of sorts as well?

Reppyboyo · 4 Dec 2020 at 11:23

Background? Uhhh.... Default windows?
I don't know what you mean by that in all seriousness though.

Thanks for the suggestion on pluralsight, I'll give the free trial a go.

A friend of mine made the suggestion of making programs you need but already have. A calculator or notepad for example.
I don't really have the experience to do this yet though.

planty · 4 Dec 2020 at 12:07

Sorry, by background I meant whether you had an experience of programming previously and just want to learn c# or whether you're starting completely from scratch. By 'expanding your career options' I took that to mean you were already working in IT/software to some degree? Why are you choosing c#?

If you're starting out from scratch I wouldn't get hung up specifically on c#, there will be a number of courses that can explain fundamental concepts that are not language-specific.

Reppyboyo · 4 Dec 2020 at 16:47

oh no I have zero background experience in programming, bar some HTML from...10 years ago or so?

C# was recommended to start with by a few friends who are all in the industry currently.

GravyMonster · 4 Dec 2020 at 19:33

If you're starting out from scratch I wouldn't get hung up specifically on c#, there will be a number of courses that can explain fundamental concepts that are not language-specific.

Speaking as a C# dev, I completely agree with this. There's some basic principles (data types, arrays, OOP etc) you need to understand first before you get stuck in to a language. In truth you should first decide what area you want to work in then choose a language based on that, not the other way around.

john_s · 4 Dec 2020 at 19:59

Another big vote for Pluralsight from me too.

Microsoft have some good written tutorials as well.

Previously when I’ve looked through some C# books, they’ve been quite well structured in terms of starting from the basics and building up.

I guess it depends a bit on how you learn best - some people can take videos in better, other people books, etc.

If there’s anything specific you want to learn / achieve / create, we can probably point you in a better direction to help achieve it.

Throrik · 5 Dec 2020 at 01:07

I read the Yellow Book many moons ago and I see he's continued to keep it up to date. It was always seen as one of the better books on introducing C#.

http://www.csharpcourse.com/

jsmoke · 5 Dec 2020 at 01:31

C# for dummies?

PaulB · 5 Dec 2020 at 13:27

This is a pretty decent introduction from Microsoft. Free as well.

https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/CSharp-Fundamentals-for-Absolute-Beginners

Reppyboyo · 6 Dec 2020 at 12:41

Thanks for the recommendations all, will be looking into them all today.

As for having a direction/area I want to work, I dont really have a clue just yet. Not helpful I know but Ill try figure it out along the way.

radderfire · 7 Dec 2020 at 14:04

I would say set yourself a small task, e.g. validate a form input field, send an e-mail from a web page, add an item to a database, etc etc, then try and complete the task. Get yourself some hosting and start small task projects. Get help from Stack Overflow.

Also:

http://www.webref.eu/c-sharp-notes.php

http://www.webref.eu/learn-how-to-code.php

radderfire · 7 Dec 2020 at 14:06

Also, learn GitHub and then look at other basic C# projects:

http://www.webref.eu/git-notes.php

RobHu · 8 Dec 2020 at 09:49

Throrik said:
I read the Yellow Book many moons ago and I see he's continued to keep it up to date. It was always seen as one of the better books on introducing C#.

http://www.csharpcourse.com/

This^. It's more or less the first year course taught to students at the Uni the author works at. After that you'll have an idea whether you want to continue learning or not.

Chaos · 8 Dec 2020 at 13:25

The Starting Out With Visual C# by Tony Gaddis book is beginner friendly and assumes no previous programming experience, however Id try and get a used copy as they are way over priced.

RedTS · 8 Dec 2020 at 14:07

I suggest youtube, have a look at freecodecamp. Pluralsight is alright, but it's probably not what you need. The MS course listed above is good. C# like any language is just a tool, you need to learn to understand what programming is, understanding logic flow.

When working professionally you are faced with a problem and you use the tools you have at hand to solve that problem, understanding the logic flow and changes you need to make and why is more important that the specific language you are using.

As mentioned learn Git for source control, you don't need much, though the more you know the easier it will be to undo the mistakes you make, though stackoverflow typically has an answer for the mistake you've made.

Go out and code, perhaps try interview questions? stupid things like code up an implementation of fizzbuzz. writing software is how you'll ultimately learn, so find projects, perhaps look for github repos with project lists?

Rikmeister · 4 Jan 2021 at 01:07

RedTS said:
As mentioned learn Git for source control, you don't need much, though the more you know the easier it will be to undo the mistakes you make, though stackoverflow typically has an answer for the mistake you've made.

Someone recommended Git Hub as a major focus for a programming career move - not only as a usefull tool but as a way of showing prospective employers that you are actually using your skills for development.

antijoke · 18 Jan 2021 at 12:09

planty said:
Sorry, by background I meant whether you had an experience of programming previously and just want to learn c# or whether you're starting completely from scratch. By 'expanding your career options' I took that to mean you were already working in IT/software to some degree? Why are you choosing c#?

If you're starting out from scratch I wouldn't get hung up specifically on c#, there will be a number of courses that can explain fundamental concepts that are not language-specific.

sorry to hijack the thread, but as someone who has never had an education on the basics or fundamental concepts is there a resource(s) you’d recommend?

montymint · 18 Jan 2021 at 12:17

antijoke said:
sorry to hijack the thread, but as someone who has never had an education on the basics or fundamental concepts is there a resource(s) you’d recommend?

Is there anything you want to do in particular? I'm currently going through a learning process (coming from knowledge of SQL) of OOP and depending on what you want to do, there's better resources for one thing over anotehr IMO. If you want to make games for example, then a course for learing c# or python by making 2d games would be better than a course for MVC to build a website with a database underneath it.

If it's just groundwork concepts of class, methods and objects then any course thats based on a language will cover these.

Personally I'm doing a couple of Udemy courses that have things to "make" as projects, which is a better approach for the way I learn, which is by doing.

C#, where to start?

Pet Northerner