Essential C# 6.0

“Welcome to one of the greatest collaborations you could dream of in the world of C# books—and probably far beyond!” —From the Foreword by Mads Torgersen, C# Program Manager, Microsoft Essential C# 6.0 is a well-organized, no-fluff guide to the latest versions of C# for programmers at all levels of experience. Fully updated to reflect new C# 6.0 and .NET 4.6 features and patterns, it will help you write C# code that’s simple, powerful, robust, secure, and maintainable.   This book’s authors are world-class C# experts: long-time Microsoft MVP and Regional Director Mark Michaelis and Eric Lippert, formerly principal developer on Microsoft’s C# compiler team. Together, they cover the entire language, illustrating key constructs with succinct examples and offering a complete foundation for successful C# development.   Essential C# 6.0 makes it easy to program with any version of C#, whether you’re creating new code or maintaining existing systems. Separate indexes for C# versions 4, 5, and 6 help you quickly find version-specific answers with accompanying visual indicators that help you identify which language innovations will work when. This edition also includes a set of best-practice C# Coding Guidelines updated to leverage C# 6.0 constructs.   Coverage includes Mastering C# data types, operators, control flow, methods, and parameters Using C# object-oriented constructs, including classes, inheritance, interfaces, and more—all with the significantly simplified syntax of C# 6.0 Working with well-formed value and reference types Implementing reliable, effective exception handling Reducing code complexity with generics, delegates, lambda expressions, and events (including a simplified C# 6.0 syntax for triggering events) Learning dynamic programming with reflection and attributes Querying diverse data collections using LINQ with query expressions Creating custom collections that operate against business objects Using collection interfaces and standard query operators to access .NET collections Understanding the Common Language Infrastructure and C# in the context of .NET 4.6 Taking advantage of declarative programming, embedded metadata, reflection, and attributes Mastering multithreading and synchronization, including the new async/await paradigm Using P/Invoke, pointers, and direct memory manipulation to interoperate with other languages Understanding how C# programs relate to the underlying runtime   For Qualified Instructors An instructor’s guide, exercises, and a slide deck are available to support your courses.

Table of Contents:
Figures         xv Tables        xvii Foreword        xix Preface          xxiii Acknowledgments        xxxv About the Authors       xxxvii   Chapter 1: Introducing C#            1 Hello, World   2 C# Syntax Fundamentals   4 Console Input and Output   18   Chapter 2: Data Types          35 Fundamental Numeric Types   36 More Fundamental Types   45 null and void   58 Categories of Types   61 Nullable Modifier   64 Conversions between Data Types   65 Arrays   71   Chapter 3: Operators and Control Flow         89 Operators   90 Introducing Flow Control   107 Code Blocks ({})   114 Code Blocks, Scopes, and Declaration Spaces   116 Boolean Expressions   118 Bitwise Operators (<<, >>, |, &, ^, ~)   128 Control Flow Statements, Continued   134 Jump Statements   146 C# Preprocessor Directives   152   Chapter 4: Methods and Parameters           161 Calling a Method   162 Declaring a Method   169 The using Directive   175 Returns and Parameters on Main()   180 Advanced Method Parameters   183 Recursion   192 Method Overloading   194 Optional Parameters   197 Basic Error Handling with Exceptions   202   Chapter 5: Classes            217 Declaring and Instantiating a Class   221 Instance Fields   225 Instance Methods   227 Using the this Keyword   228 Access Modifiers   235 Properties   237 Constructors   254 Static Members   265 Extension Methods   275 Encapsulating the Data   277 Nested Classes   281 Partial Classes   284   Chapter 6: Inheritance           289 Derivation   290 Overriding the Base Class   302 Abstract Classes   314 All Classes Derive from System.Object   320 Verifying the Underlying Type with the is Operator   321 Conversion Using the as Operator   322   Chapter 7: Interfaces          325 Introducing Interfaces   326 Polymorphism through Interfaces   327 Interface Implementation   332 Converting between the Implementing Class and Its Interfaces   338 Interface Inheritance   338 Multiple Interface Inheritance   341 Extension Methods on Interfaces   341 Implementing Multiple Inheritance via Interfaces   343 Versioning   346 Interfaces Compared with Classes   347 Interfaces Compared with Attributes   349   Chapter 8: Value Types         351 Structs   355 Boxing   362 Enums   371   Chapter 9: Well-Formed Types           383 Overriding object Members   383 Operator Overloading   395 Referencing Other Assemblies   403 Defining Namespaces   409 XML Comments   413 Garbage Collection   418 Resource Cleanup   421 Lazy Initialization   429   Chapter 10: Exception Handling         433 Multiple Exception Types   433 Catching Exceptions   436 General Catch Block   440 Guidelines for Exception Handling   443 Defining Custom Exceptions   446 Rethrowing a Wrapped Exception   449   Chapter 11: Generics          455 C# without Generics   456 Introducing Generic Types   461 Constraints   473 Generic Methods   486 Covariance and Contravariance   491 Generic Internals   498   Chapter 12: Delegates and Lambda Expressions           505 Introducing Delegates  506 Lambda Expressions   516 Anonymous Methods   522 General-Purpose Delegates: System.Func and System.Action   524   Chapter 13: Events           543 Coding the Observer Pattern with Multicast Delegates   544 Events   558   Chapter 14: Collection Interfaces with Standard Query Operators           571 Anonymous Types and Implicitly Typed Local Variables   572 Collection Initializers   578 What Makes a Class a Collection: IEnumerable    582 Standard Query Operators   588   Chapter 15: LINQ with Query Expressions            621 Introducing Query Expressions   622 Query Expressions Are Just Method Invocations   640   Chapter 16: Building Custom Collections            643 More Collection Interfaces   644 Primary Collection Classes   646 Providing an Indexer   663 Returning Null or an Empty Collection   666 Iterators   667   Chapter 17: Reflection, Attributes, and Dynamic Programming           683 Reflection   684 nameof Operator   694 Attributes   696 Programming with Dynamic Objects   719   Chapter 18: Multithreading          731 Multithreading Basics   734 Working with System.Threading   741 Asynchronous Tasks   749 Canceling a Task   768 The Task-Based Asynchronous Pattern   775 Executing Loop Iterations in Parallel   798 Running LINQ Queries in Parallel   809   Chapter 19: Thread Synchronization   815 Why Synchronization?   817 Timers   845   Chapter 20: Platform Interoperability and Unsafe Code          849 Platform Invoke   850 Pointers and Addresses   862 Executing Unsafe Code via a Delegate   872 Using the Windows Runtime Libraries from C#   873   Chapter 21: The Common Language Infrastructure          877 Defining the Common Language Infrastructure   878 CLI Implementations   879 C# Compilation to Machine Code   879 Runtime   883 Application Domains   888 Assemblies, Manifests, and Modules   888 Common Intermediate Language   891 Common Type System   892 Common Language Specification   893 Base Class Library   893 Metadata   894   Appendix A: Downloading and Installing the C# Compiler and CLI Platform          897 Microsoft’s .NET   897   Appendix B: Tic-Tac-Toe Source Code Listing          903   Index 909 Index of 6.0 Topics 953 Index of 5.0 Topics 955 Index of 4.0 Topics 959 Index of 3.0 Topics 965

About the Author :
Mark Michaelis is founder of IntelliTect, where he serves as its Chief Technical Architect and trainer. For nearly two decades he has been a Microsoft MVP, and he is also a Microsoft Regional Director. Michaelis serves on several Microsoft software design review teams, including C#, Azure, SharePoint, and Visual Studio ALM. He speaks at developer conferences and has written numerous books.   Eric Lippert is developer on the C# analysis team at Coverity/Synopsys, was previously principal developer on Microsoft’s C# compiler team and a member of its C# language design team. During his 16 years at Microsoft, he also helped design and implement VBScript, JScript, Windows Script Host, and Visual Studio Tools for Office, and served on ECMA’s JavaScript standardization committee.