Articles to Supplement C# 2008 For Dummies

As if the new, larger C# 2008 For Dummies book and the Bonus Chapters weren't enough, here's more, in the form of articles, some long, some short. I'll be adding to these from time to time, especially in the Unit Testing section.

About Code and Coding

What Should Code Look Like -- AVAILABLE HERE NOW!

A discussion of good style and layout in writing clear, readable code.

C# Techniques

Converting Between Byte and Char Arrays -- AVAILABLE HERE NOW!

These conversions are a pretty common task in C# code.

Enumerating the Charms of the Enum -- AVAILABLE HERE NOW!

Enumerated types (enums) are an elegant way to specify named constants. They provide much better information than, say, a bool method argument.

Making Value Types Immutable -- AVAILABLE HERE NOW!

The best struct types are those that can't be altered after they are created. To change them, you must replace them with new objects.

Passing Arguments to a Program -- AVAILABLE HERE NOW!

If you write console programs -- like those in the book -- you may need to pass arguments to them when you run them from the command line. Here's how.

Querying an Object As a Collection with LINQ -- AVAILABLE HERE NOW!

C# objects are, in effect, collections: of methods, properties, data members, and so on. You can use LINQ query techniques (like those covered in Chapter 17) to query an object's members.

Restarting a Class Hierarchy with Virtual -- AVAILABLE HERE NOW!

Sometimes you need to break a class hierarchy's inheritance chain and start a new chain at one of the lower objects.

Unit Testing

Introducing Unit Testing -- AVAILABLE HERE NOW! Get started writing unit tests to improve your confidence in the code you write. This article is the beginning of a series on unit testing.

Introducing Refactoring -- AVAILABLE HERE NOW! Learn to modify your code safely: clean it up, move the design in a different direction, make it easier to understand.

Miscellaneous Topics

C# Features Not Covered in the Book, and Major App Areas for C# -- AVAILABLE HERE NOW!

Naturally, I couldn't cover every aspect of C# in only 430 pages, nor could I cover every conceivable way that people are using C#: database code, Web code, mobile device code, and so on.

Getting Help in Visual Studio -- AVAILABLE HERE NOW!

This short guide introduces the main features of the Visual Studio Help system and offers guidelines for getting the most out of Help.

How to Read the C# Spec and the Docs -- AVAILABLE HERE NOW!

It's useful to be familiar with the C# specification document and the Help documentation. This article discusses how to obtain and navigate these documents.