Materials

I thought it would be a good idea to document the core materials that I will be using throughout the semester.

1) Software: Microsoft Visual Studio

2) Book: C# Complete

3) Additional Resources: web

Meeting Results

After meeting with my professor we decided that I should create a schedule that will dictate my progress through out the semester. Currently I am working on getting VisualStudio running on my personal notebook. I will post a detailed schedule later on this week.

Project Meeting

Today, I will be meeting with Dr. Piercy to discuss a project to deliver at the end of the semester. I have been reviewing C# language specification and source code but at this point it is still confusing. The best way to grasp this language is to actually create something with it so I can see which task each piece of code is responsible for completing. I will post soon on the the project deliverable that was decided upon.

C# Language Specifications

I was browsing online and I found what seems to be an excellent beginning point for me to start learning the syntax of C#. It is a 519 page documentation of the C# language. The link for the page is:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/aa336809.aspx

The link is called C# Language Specification 3.0

The site also appears to have a lot more on the programming language and I will certainly be looking into it more thoroughly.

C#

Since I have chosen C# as my topic of interest I decided to read up on some easy material so I can get to know the basics.

I used Wikipedia for this since it usually offers multiple sources but I am still very aware that it is an open source encyclopedia. Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_Sharp_(programming_language)#.22Hello.2C_world.22_example

C# is a programming language that was developed for the Microsoft .NET framework. At first glance it appears to be quite similar to the Java language that I have previously learned. There are minor syntax differences such as == in Java is = in C#. The most recent version of C# to date that I have been able to find is C# 4.0 . One of the most important aspects of the language is that it supports internationalization. Simply put the language can be used across the globe without any major complications.

Area of Emphasis

After speaking with my sister, about which .Net language would benefit the most when I enter the IS workforce, she informed me that C# would be best. So now I need to begin gathering resources on the subject matter and familiarize myself with what I will be attempting to learn over the course of the semester.

Introduction

This blog will be used to monitor my progress throughout the semester while I do an independent study on .Net. As of right now I am unsure of what specific area of .Net I want to place the most emphasis on. I have two choices: 1)Visual Basic, 2)C#.

Things to do:
- figure out area of emphasis
- get material on subject