Book Review: Effective C#

Although not his first book on C#, Bill Wagner really became noticed in the .NET community after writing Effective C#: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your C#.

First off, this is not a C# reference guide. Instead, this is a collection of concrete arguments for using particular C# structures over their counterparts.

The greatest thing I appreciated is that Wagner shows cold, hard evidence for every tip. The cornerstone throughout the book is showing what occurs at compile time in C# and IL examples, and then continuing to explain what occurs at run-time. As an example, Item 11: Prefer foreach loops goes into great depth why the foreach loop is the more effiecient than do, while, and most hand-written for loops.

Perhaps the biggest performance tip I personally received came right away, Item 3: Prefer the is and as operators to casting. Which way would you rather write it?

object o = Factory.CreateInstance();
//Version 1:
MyType t = o as MyType;

if (t != null)
    return t.MyValue;

//Version 2:
if (o is MyType)
    return (o as MyType).MyValue;

//Version 3:
try
{
    MyType t = (MyType) o;

    if (t != null)
        return t.MyValue;
}
catch (Exception)
{
    //report a cast exception
}

Chapter List

1. C# Language Elements
2. .NET Resource Management
3. Expressing Designs with C#
4. Creating Binary Components
5. Working with the Framework
6. Miscellaneous

The Good

• Quick & easy read
• Solid rationale for every tip
• Basic concepts still applicable after .NET 3.0
• C# veterans and newbies can all learn something from this book

The Bad

• Large number of typos
• A few items are debatable (i.e. Item 41: Prefer DataSets to Custom Structures)
• Does not encompass C# 2.0 or above
• Last chapter titled Miscellaneous was weak. Should have been called 44 Ways To Improve Your C# + 6 Other Tips

I highly recommend this book as I learned a number of great tips that I still use today. It is a fun and quick read that anyone wanting to improve their C# will enjoy. With or without typos, I would give it a 4.

Effective C#: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your C#

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