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Murach’s C# (8th Edition)
by Anne Boehm and Joel Murach
22 chapters, 772 pages, 332 illustrations
Published April 2022
ISBN 978-1-943873-07-4
22 chapters, 772 pages, 332 illustrations
Published April 2022
ISBN 978-1-943873-07-4
List price: $59.50
Ever since the 1st Edition of this book was published in 2004, it has been a favorite of instructors and students alike because of the clear, concise way it teaches C# and object-oriented programming. Now, this 8th Edition has been updated and streamlined to do a better job than ever of showing how to develop professional Windows Forms applications with C#.
Although this book is designed for introductory C# courses, it also works for object-oriented and database programming courses.
Now available as a Canvas course!
The Canvas course file contains all the objectives, quizzes, assignments, and slides that you need to run an effective course. It only takes a few clicks to import it into the Canvas LMS. Then, you can customize it for your course. Learn more.
Best C# book ever. Murach manuals are precise and to the point, with lots and lots of examples. Highly recommended for beginners."
Posted at an online bookseller
- About this Book
- Table of Contents
- Courseware
- FAQs
- Corrections
Book description
Section 1: Introduction to program development
The 3 chapters of section 1 show your students how to use the Visual Studio IDE to develop Windows Forms applications…an approach that suits today’s visual learners by letting them see what they’re making. In particular, these chapters focus on the skills for designing forms and entering code. These are essential skills your students need to get the most out of Visual Studio.
Section 2: Language essentials
The 8 chapters of section 2 present a professional subset of C# that includes all of the essential programming skills for developing business applications. That includes the best techniques for handling exceptions, validating data, coding control structures, working with arrays and collections, handling various types of data, and debugging applications.
Section 3: Object-oriented programming
The 5 chapters of section 3 present a professional set of skills for creating and using classes. To start, chapter 12 presents the basic skills every student should know. Because the other chapters present advanced skills, you may want to be selective about which of these chapters or portions of chapters you assign.
Section 4: Basic skills for working with data
The 2 chapters of section 4 present skills for working with data outside of a database. To be specific, they show how to work with text and binary files, as well as how to use LINQ to query a data structure.
You can decide whether you want to cover the chapter on file I/O or whether to point to it as a reference if students ever need to work with files. But you’ll want to be sure to cover the chapter on LINQ before going on to EF Core in section 5.
Section 5: Database programming
The 4 chapters of section 5 present the essential skills for developing applications that work with databases. That includes using Entity Framework (EF) Core to work with the data in a relational database and using ADO.NET to provide the data access code. It also includes using the DataGridView control of the .NET Framework to display and manipulate database records in an application.
What courses this book can be used for
This book is designed for introductory C# courses. But it also works for object-oriented and database programming courses, so you may want to consider it for a two- or three-course sequence.
Introductory courses
For an introductory course, this book gives your students a realistic view of how Visual Studio and C# are used to develop Windows Forms applications. By the time your students complete chapter 7, for example, they will be able to develop tested, reliable applications that do data validation and exception handling. And by the time they complete chapter 12, they’ll be able to develop object-oriented applications.
Advanced courses
This book is also ideal for advanced courses:
- In sections 1 and 2, your students can review the essential skills that they should have already learned from an introductory course but often don’t.
- In section 3, your students can learn all of the intricacies of object-oriented programming.
- In section 4, your students can learn how to work with text and binary files and how to use LINQ to query various data structures, in preparation for using LINQ with EF Core.
- In section 5, your students can learn how to develop database applications using EF Core, ADO.NET code, and the DataGridView control.
Presentation options
After your students complete the first 12 chapters, you can go on to any other section of the book. This works because these sections are written as independent modules that require only the first 12 chapters as a prerequisite.
In addition, most of the chapters in sections 4 and 5 are independent of each other, so they can be taught in any order. That’s what we mean by modularity, and that lets you create the course that’s right for your students.
The main points here are that (1) you don’t need to teach the chapters in sequence and (2) you get to decide the focus of your course.
If, for example, you want to emphasize the complexities of object-oriented programming, assign all of section 3. If you want to emphasize database programming, assign chapter 18 and all of section 5. If you want to teach a course that introduces all aspects of programming, assign selected chapters from sections 3, 4, and 5.
"There's too much content for my course"
That’s a complaint we sometimes hear, and we realize it may be an issue with a book that’s almost 800 pages!
Remember, though, that the modular structure of this book lets you assign just the content that you want for your course, whether it’s a beginning or advanced course.
Book features
Like all our books, this one has features that you won’t find in competing books. That’s why we believe that your students will learn faster and better with our book than with any other. Here are just 3 of those features.
- Unlike some C# books, this book shows your students how to get the most from Visual Studio.
- Unlike most C# books that are used for introductory courses, our book shows how to develop real-world applications.
- Like all our books, this C# book presents all the material in what we call paired pages, where every 2-page spread explains and illustrates a single topic. That means less reading, easier reference when working on labs, and quicker review when prepping for exams.
What’s new in this edition
In you’ve been using the 7th Edition, you’ll find it’s pretty easy to revise your course for this 8th Edition. That’s because not much has changed between these two editions.
Here’s what we changed:
- Updated all apps and exercises to .NET 7 (C# 11).
- Added coverage of new features for working with…
- global using directives
- file-scoped namespaces
- raw string literals
- property patterns
- structures and records
- Thoroughly streamlined the book by removing outdated coding techniques and replacing them with today’s best practices.
What software your students need for this book
To develop the Windows Forms applications presented in this book, your students will need the following:
Windows 10 or later
Although .NET is cross-platform, you can’t use macOS or Linux to develop Windows Forms applications like the ones shown in this book. You have to use Windows 10, Version 1607 or later.
Visual Studio Community 2022 or later
The Community edition of Visual Studio can be downloaded for free from Microsoft’s website, and it includes all of the components needed to work with this book:
- .NET
- The compiler for the C# language
- SQL Server Express LocalDB, an embedded version of the SQL Server database
Appendix A of the book shows your students how to install Visual Studio and its components on their own PCs.
What people say about this book
"Best C# book ever. Murach manuals are precise and to the point, with lots and lots of examples. Highly recommended for beginners."
- Posted at an online bookseller
"Murach has yet again hit a home run! This book is laid out in such a way where the theory is on the left page and the ‘Cliff Notes’ version of the content is on the right side. It gets you from zero to Jr Dev knowledge in no time. After the fact, you can always use that right page as a great reference whilst in the middle of a project. Bravo again, guys."
- Brian Knight, Founder, Pragmatic Works, Florida
"This is probably the best textbook I have ever used. It covers C# programming from the ground up and is outstanding. Useful information is emphasized and each section contains a summary for reinforcement. I am learning very fast. I have also heard from computer science grads that this author produces the best texts on many other programming languages."
- Posted at an online bookseller
"This book is awesome! I recommend it anyone new to programming like myself. Loved how the author used forms to teach the language. It was good for me because I got to see what I was making."
- Posted at an online bookseller
"A notable feature of the book is that everything is done as a ‘How to,’ which is great when you are learning. This is the typical Murach approach to books, making them not just useful for learning but also as big cookbooks."
- David Bolton, Past Host of C/C++/C# for About.com (now on ThoughtCo.com)
"I have trouble reading books (boring and I'm lazy) - the 'paired pages' approach is really nice - give it a try."
- Posted at an online bookseller
"Just trying to learn a development language can be daunting, and you can spend hours trying to find the answer to rather straightforward questions, like working with arrays. This book brings it all together in a comprehensive manner that is easy to understand and follow."
- Hal Hayes, Capital Area .NET User Group
"I can't express how much this book helps with explaining everything in detail. If you are just starting out in C# programming, this is the book I would suggest getting."
- Posted at an online bookseller
"I have learned more in the 800+ pages of this book than I have reading half a dozen other books and hours of forum posts online."
- Posted at an online bookseller
View the table of contents for this book in a PDF: Table of Contents (PDF)
Click on any chapter title to display or hide its content.
Section 1 An introduction to Visual Studio
Chapter 1 How to get started with Visual Studio
An introduction to .NET development
Platforms for .NET applications
Visual Studio and the .NET programming languages
The .NET Framework and .NET Core
The Visual Studio IDE
How a C# application is compiled and run
A tour of the Visual Studio IDE
How to start Visual Studio
How to open or close an existing project
How to use the Form Designer
How to use the Code Editor
How to use the Solution Explorer
How to work with Visual Studio’s windows
How to change the .NET version used by a project
How to test a project
How to build a project
How to run a project
Chapter 2 How to design a Windows Forms app
How to get started
How to create a new project
How to configure a new Windows Forms app
How to design a form
The design of the Invoice Total form
How to add controls to a form
How to set properties
Common properties for forms and controls
How to add navigation features
The property settings for the Invoice Total form
How to finish your design
How to rename the files of a project
How to save the files of a project
Chapter 3 How to code and test a Windows Forms app
An introduction to coding
Introduction to object-oriented programming
How to refer to properties, methods, and events
How an application responds to events
How to add code to a form
How to create an event handler for the default event of a form or control
How to delete an event handler
How IntelliSense helps you enter the code for a form
The event handlers for the Invoice Total form
How to detect and correct syntax errors
More coding skills
How to code with a readable style
How to code comments
How to work with the Text Editor toolbar
How to collapse or expand blocks of code
How to use code snippets
How to refactor code
How to get help information
How to run, test, and debug a project
How to run a project
How to test a project
How to debug runtime errors
Section 2 The C# language essentials
Chapter 4 How to work with numeric and string data
How to work with the built-in value types
The built-in value types
How to declare and initialize variables
How to declare and initialize constants
How to code arithmetic expressions
How to code assignment statements
How to work with the order of precedence
How to use casting
How to use the Math class
How to generate random numbers
How to work with strings
How to declare and initialize a string
How to join and append strings
How to include special characters in strings
How to code raw string literals
How to convert data types
The .NET structures and classes that define data types
How to use methods to convert data types
How to use methods to convert numbers to formatted strings
Four other skills for working with data
How to work with scope
How to declare and use enumerations
How to work with nullable value types and the null-coalescing operators
How to work with nullable reference types
Two versions of the Invoice Total app
The basic Invoice Total app
The enhanced Invoice Total app
Chapter 5 How to code control structures
How to code Boolean expressions
How to use the relational operators
How to use the logical operators
How to code conditional statements and expressions
How to code if-else statements
How to code switch statements
How to code switch expressions
How to use pattern matching
How to use the conditional operator
An enhanced version of the Invoice Total app
How to code loops
How to code while and do-while loops
How to code for loops
Loops that use break and continue statements
Debugging techniques for programs with loops
The Future Value app
The design and property settings for the form
The code for the form
Chapter 6 How to code methods and event handlers
How to code and call methods
How to code methods
How to call methods
How to use optional parameters
How to use named arguments
How to code expression-bodied methods
How to use refactoring to create a new method and its calling statement
When and how to pass arguments by reference and by value
How to work with tuples
How to create tuples and refer to their members
How to use a tuple as the return type for a method
How to work with events and delegates
How to generate an event handler for any event
How event wiring works
How to handle multiple events with one event handler
Another version of the Future Value app
The event handlers and the CalculateFutureValue() method
Some of the generated code
Chapter 7 How to handle exceptions and validate data
An introduction to exceptions
How exceptions work
How to display a dialog
How to use structured exception handling
How to catch an exception
How to use the properties and methods of an exception
How to catch specific types of exceptions
How to throw an exception
The Future Value app with exception handling
How to validate data
How to validate a single entry
How to code generic methods for data validation
How to validate multiple entries
The Future Value app with data validation
The dialogs
The code
Chapter 8 How to use arrays and collections
How to work with one-dimensional arrays
How to create an array
How to assign values to the elements of an array
How to work with arrays
How to use foreach loops to work with arrays
How to work with rectangular arrays
How to create a rectangular array
How to assign values to a rectangular array
How to work with rectangular arrays
More skills for working with arrays
How to use the Array class
How to refer to and copy arrays
How to code methods that work with arrays
How to use the null-conditional operator
More ways to refer to array elements
How to work with list patterns
How to work with collections
Commonly used collection classes
Typed vs. untyped collections
How to work with a list
How to work with a sorted list
How to work with queues and stacks
How to work with an array list
Chapter 9 How to work with dates and strings
How to work with dates and times
How to create a DateTime value
How to get the current date and time
How to format DateTime values
How to get information about dates and times
How to perform operations on dates and times
How to work with strings
The members of the String class
Code examples that work with strings
More code examples that work with strings
How to use interpolated strings for join operations
How to use the Parse() and TryParse() methods to validate numeric entries
How to use the StringBuilder class
How to format numbers, dates, and times
How to format numbers
How to format dates and times
How to use interpolated strings for formatting
Chapter 10 More skills for working with Windows forms and controls
How to work with controls
Five more types of controls
How to work with combo boxes and list boxes
How to work with check boxes and radio buttons
How to work with group boxes
How to use Tab Order view to set the tab order
How to get the information you need for using a control
How to work with multi-form projects
How to add a form to a project
The code that’s generated for a new form
How to work with global using directives
How to rename a form
How to display the first form of an app
How to display a form as a dialog
How to pass data between a form and a custom dialog
How to use the MessageBox class
How to display a dialog and get the user response
How to use the FormClosing event
The Payment app
The operation
The property settings
The code for the Customer form
The code for the Payment form
Chapter 11 How to debug an app
Basic debugging techniques
How to work in break mode
How to work with data tips
How to use the Hot Reload feature
How to use breakpoints
How to control the execution of an app
How to use the debugging windows
How to use the Locals window to monitor variables
How to use the Autos window to monitor variables
How to use Watch windows to monitor expressions
How to use the Immediate window to execute commands
How to use the Output window to view project information
How to write data to the Output window
How to use the Visualizer to view strings and collections
Section 3 Object-oriented programming
Chapter 12 How to create and use classes
An introduction to classes
How classes can be used to structure an app
How to define a class
How to create objects from a class
Basic skills for creating a class
How to add a class file to a project
How to code properties
How to code methods
How to code constructors
How to code static members
The Product Maintenance app
The operation of the Product Maintenance app
The classes used by the Product Maintenance app
The code for the Product Maintenance app
More skills for creating and using classes
How to code properties with fields
How to code overloaded methods and constructors
How to code required properties
How to use property patterns
How to create and use structures, records, and record structs
How to create a structure
How to use a structure
How to create and use a record
How to create and use a record struct
When to use classes, structures, records, and record structs
The Product Maintenance app updated to use a record
Chapter 13 How to work with indexers, delegates, events, and operators
An introduction to the ProductList class
The code for a simple ProductList class
The specifications for the enhanced ProductList class
How to work with indexers
How to create an indexer
How to code expression-bodied indexers and accessors
How to throw an argument exception
How to work with delegates and events
How to define and use a delegate
How to define and use events
How to use anonymous methods and lambda expressions with delegates and events
How to overload operators
An introduction to operator overloading
How to overload arithmetic operators
How to overload relational operators
An enhanced version of the Product Maintenance application
The code for the ProductList class
The code for the Product Maintenance form
Chapter 14 How to work with inheritance
An introduction to inheritance
How inheritance works
How .NET uses inheritance
Methods inherited from the System.Object class
How to use inheritance in your apps
Basic skills for working with inheritance
How to create a base class
How to create a subclass
How polymorphism works
An inheritance version of the Product Maintenance app
The operation of the Product Maintenance app
The code for the Product, Book, and Software classes
The code for the ProductList class
The code for the Product Maintenance form
The code for the New Product form
Object types and casting
How to use the Type class to get information about an object’s type
How to use casting with inheritance
How to work with abstract and sealed classes
How to work with abstract classes
How to work with sealed classes
Chapter 15 How to work with interfaces and generics
How to work with interfaces
An introduction to interfaces
Some of the interfaces defined by .NET
How to create an interface
How to work with default methods
How to work with static methods and fields
How to implement an interface
A Product class that implements the ICloneable interface
How to use an interface as a parameter
How to work with generics
How to code a class that defines a generic collection
Some of the generic interfaces defined by .NET
How to implement the IComparable interface
How to use constraints
How to implement the IEnumerable interface
How to code an interface that uses generics
Chapter 16 How to organize, document, and test your classes
How to organize your classes
How to code multiple classes in a single file
How to split a single class across multiple files
How to work with namespaces
How to work with file scoped namespaces
How to document your classes
How to add XML documentation to a class
How to view the XML documentation
How to create and use class libraries
How class libraries work
How to create a class library project
How to add a reference to a class library
How to use the classes in a class library
How to implement unit testing
How unit testing works
How to create a unit test project
How to code unit tests
How to run unit tests
Section 4 Basic skills for working with data
Chapter 17 How to work with file I/O
An introduction to the System.IO classes
The classes for managing directories, files, and paths
How files and streams work
How to use the FileStream class
How to use the exception classes for file I/O
How to work with text files
How to write a text file
How to read a text file
How to use the using statement and the using declaration
A class that works with a text file
How to work with binary files
How to write a binary file
How to read a binary file
A class that works with a binary file
Chapter 18 How to use LINQ
Basic concepts for working with LINQ
How LINQ is implemented
Advantages of using LINQ
The three stages of a query operation
How to code query expressions
How to identify the data source for a query
How to filter the results of a query
How to sort the results of a query
How to select fields from a query
How to join data from two or more data sources
How to code method-based queries
How to use the LINQ methods for query operations
How to use additional LINQ methods
A Customer Invoice application that uses generic lists
The user interface
The code for the form
Section 5 Database programming
Chapter 19 An introduction to database programming
An introduction to client/server systems
The hardware components of a client/server system
The software components of a client/server system
An introduction to relational databases
How a table is organized
How the tables in a database are related
How the columns in a table are defined
The design of the MMABooks database
How to use SQL to work with a relational database
How to query a single table
How to join data from two or more tables
How to add, update, and delete data in a table
Chapter 20 How to use Entity Framework Core
How to create a data model
How Entity Framework Core works
How to add EF Core to your project
How to generate DB context and entity classes
The data model for the MMABooks database
The code for the DB context class
The code for the Customer entity class
How to modify the generated code
How to use LINQ with EF Core
How to retrieve data
How to load related objects
How to use EF Core to modify a database
How to insert, update, and delete data
How to handle database exceptions
How concurrency affects insert, update, and delete operations
How to check for concurrency conflicts
How to handle concurrency exceptions
How to bind controls
How to bind controls to a collection
How to bind controls to the results of a query
How to code a data access class
A simple data access class
A data access class that handles exceptions
The Customer Maintenance app
The user interface
The code for the Customer Maintenance form
The code for the Add/Modify Customer form
Chapter 21 How to use ADO.NET to write your own data access code
An introduction to ADO.NET
The .NET data provider for SQL Server
How the connection, command, and data reader objects work
How to work with connections and commands
How to create and work with connections
How to create and work with commands
How to work with parameters
How to use parameters in SQL statements
How to create and work with the parameters for a command
How to execute commands
How to create and work with a data reader
How to execute queries that return a single value
How to execute action queries
The Customer Maintenance app
The user interface
The code for the data access class
Chapter 22 How to use the DataGridView control
How to display data in a DataGridView control
An introduction to the DataGridView control
How to set the functions provided by a DataGridView control
How to bind to a data source
How to code a method in a data access class that gets selected columns
How to format the columns
How to format the headers and alternating rows
How to work with columns and events
How to add and remove columns
How to work with the object that’s passed to an event handler
A Product Maintenance app
The user interface
The code for the Product Maintenance form
How to provide paging for a DataGridView control
The user interface for a form that provides for paging
The code that implements the paging
How to create a Master/Detail form
The user interface for a Master/Detail form
The code for the DTOs, data access class, and form
Appendix
Appendix A How to set up Windows for this book
How to install the files for this book
How to install Visual Studio
How to set up your system to use the database
The instructor’s materials that you can request from this site provide everything you need for an effective course.
Objectives
- Help your students focus on the skills that they should master.
Test banks
- Provide a way to test comprehension.
- Can be imported to all modern LMSs.
- Contain questions that are designed to test the skills described by the objectives for each chapter.
- Use only multiple-choice test questions because they have the highest validity.
Extra exercises
- Give your students a chance to gain valuable hands-on experience.
- Encourage the students to complete the exercise on their own since the solutions aren’t available from our website (unlike the exercises that are printed in the book).
- Can be used for practice and tests.
Projects
- Ask your students to write, test, and debug applications from scratch.
- Provide a range of difficulty levels.
- Can be used for both practice and tests.
PowerPoint slides
- Summarize the critical information presented in the book.
- Start with the instructional objectives for each chapter.
For a detailed description of all the materials, please see the Instructor’s Summary PDF. And if you use the Canvas LMS, we also will be providing a Canvas course file that you can use to import all of these materials with just a few clicks.
To view the "Frequently Asked Questions" for this book in a PDF, just click on this link: View the questions
Then, if you have any questions that aren't answered here, please email us. Thanks!
To view the corrections for this book in a PDF, just click on this link: View the corrections
Then, if you find any other errors, please email us so we can correct them in the next printing of the book. Thank you!
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