C# in a Nutshell

Acknowledgments

This book would not be possible without the contribution and support of many individuals, including family, friends, and the hard-working folks at O’Reilly & Associates, Inc.

Brian Jepson and Lenny Muellner developed the programs responsible for generating Part IV and the Type, Method, Property Event, and Field Index. Brian also developed the namespace maps that are found in the overviews that begin each chapter of the Reference with input from Ted and Peter. Peter Drayton developed the program that generated material for Appendix E. Ted Neward, Matthew MacDonald, Martin Smith, Steve Spainhour, and Brian Jepson wrote the more than 700 insightful namespace and type descriptions that make the API reference so valuable.

Brad Merrill of Microsoft wrote the sections on regular expressions and provided content for Appendix A.

Brad Abrams and members of his .NET Framework team contributed to the design of the API reference and provided technical review that immeasurably improved its quality. Additional technical review of the manuscript was provided by Joe Nalewabau and Kerry Loynd of Microsoft.

Peter Drayton

Above all, I’d like to thank my wife Julie DuBois, who never fails to make days spent without .NET even more wonderful than days spent with .NET. I’d also like to thank Ben Albahari, for charging the C# and .NET hill with me for the second time in less than 18 months; Ted Neward, who played the role of the cavalry, arriving at an opportune time and making the back half of the book all that it could be; and Brian Jepson, Nancy Kotary, and John Osborn for their tireless support and efforts (editorial and otherwise).

Casting a slightly wider net, the stories in this book were immeasurably improved by comments and insights from Simon Fell, Don Box, Brock Allen, and all the other incredibly smart, talented DevelopMentor instructors I am fortunate to count as colleagues.

Lastly, I’d like to dedicate this book to my father, Peter Drayton, Sr., and my late mother, Irene Mary Rochford Drayton, for giving me a strong rudder to navigate life.

Ben Albahari

I’d like to thank Peter, for asking me to participate in this book and who has yet to fail at making me enthusiastic about what I do; the O’Reilly editors (Brian, Nancy, and John) for their commitment and courteous patience required to finish this project; Ted, for joining us to tackle the most formidable part of the book; and my girlfriend, Karen, who motivated me with a mixture of love and logic.

Ted Neward

First and foremost, my thanks to Peter for inviting (dragging?) me into this project. I’ve had nothing but fun working with him and Ben on what I hope is a useful resource for the thousands of ex-patriate C++, Java, and VB programmers flocking to this new language. Second, my thanks to the team at O’Reilly, for making my first O’Reilly book a wonderful experience. Third, my thanks to my students, past and present, who challenged, questioned, argued, and laughed (hysterically, maybe) at my C# teaching efforts. Fourth, my thanks to Don Box and Mike Abercrombie, for DevelopMentor and the wonderful culture they created there, and for allowing me to be a part of it. Last, but of course not least, I want to thank my wonderful family: my wife Charlotte, and my sons Michael and Matthew, for putting up with Dad while he once again disappeared into the study for a while.

I would also like to thank you, the reader, for taking the time to include us as part of your C# experience. It is my hope that our efforts will yield fruit in the form of less time to learn C#, leaving you more time to spend with your family and friends. It may seem trite to say it, but in this “new age” in which we find ourselves, such things are as valuable as gold; as for me and my newfound time, I’m going off for pizza with my family.