Ron Penton
1 Great 1st book for learning C# and DirectX
You will probably want some prior programming experience to make the first 5 chapters easier to digest. I'm a seasoned C/C++ programmer, and I was able to learn C# quickly with the help of this book (although admittedly C# is very much like C++). I knew a little about DirectX, but even if I didn't this book did a great job of starting basic and building on that foundation. What I like most about this book is the author goes step by step through a simple framework which gets Direct3D up and running. In about 150 lines of code, the author manages to make a Direct3D Windows application that does something. For Windows and Direct3D this is no small accomplishment given their complexity. Other books I have seen stick the Direct3D initialization into a helper library and never bother to explain it. Not here. Each line is explained well. This book will not, however, teach you advanced Direct3D topics. Only 1 chapter describes Direct3D, but it does a good job. You will want to get another book after this one to learn more advanced topics.
If you know nothing about C# or DirectX, but have some programming experience, this book is for you. The title is very fitting of the contents. Highly recommended.
2 A good intro to C# game programming
"Beginning C# Game Programming" is Ron Penton's third effort in game book-authorship. It's a ground-up tutorial on the C# programming language, starting from the obligatory "Hello World" program and ending with a pretty rudimentary "spaceship at the bottom of the screen shooting at things coming down at you" game called "Generic Space Shooter 3000".
If you're already an old hand at similar languages like Java or C++, then the first half of the book won't be much more than a refresher for you. The first half of the book covers simple screen output, followed by primitive types, operators, looping, classes, arrays and file streams. It covers these topics fairly quickly (all in about 120 pages), so you won't be spending much time on each topic. Apart from one significant exception, the language tutorial is well-organized.
The "significant exception" raises its head with chapter 6 (creating a project). After spending 120 pages learning how to write, compile, and execute small bits of C# code, chapter 6 shows you how to set up a project in SharpDevelop (a free C# programming environment). If you need help compiling your code in chapters 1-5, the only help you'll get is a brief mention of Visual Studio.NET, SharpDevelop, or the C# command-line compiler. If you invest in a copy of "Beginning C# Game Programming", I recommend that you read chapter 6 first. Then go back to chapters 1-5. Finally, head over to chapter 7 and build yourself a space-shooter for the rest of the book.
The space shooter chapters are well-done, with good coverage of doing directX graphics in C#. The topics covered are a bit large for such a simple example game (alpha-blending, force-feedback, direct3D), but this is done with the understanding that you'll be wanting to write a more significant game than "Generic Space Shooter 3000" by the time you're done with the book.
If you want a good "ground-up" start with C# game programming, "Beginning C# Game Programming" is a good start. It takes you from the very beginning to a complete arcade game.
Just don't read it in order.
3 Great Intro Book to C# and Game Development
This book is a great book for people starting out in game development. It covers all of the basic topics and leaves you wanting to explore all the possibilites with DirectX and C# game development. I would reccomend this book for people wanting to learn DirectX with C#, or anyone that is interested in getting into game development with C#. Game Development is a huge topic and this book is a great "Beginning Book" that just cracks the tip of the iceberg of game development, teaching fundamentals and leaving you wanting to explore with your new found knowledge.
4 Great book
I bought this book because I needed to learn C# really fast, but then I noticed that the only review of this book on amazon said it was terrible, so I got kinda worried. But it turns out that I was worried over nothing, because this book is great! It teaches almost every topic I needed in an easy and playful manner, so I never got bored or confused. The book even goes as far as teaching how to write a complete arcade game, something that most books don't even bother doing! 5 Stars, this is an excellent book, and I was able to learn C# in a very short time.
5 Information overload
This book claims to teach you C# and game programming - all in one. The only thing I have to say to that is it's impossible to write a book that covers topics as huge as C# and game programming in under 300 pages!! There are volumes of books dedicated to these topics, and this author feels he can cover it all in under 300 pages???
This book is a complete waste of time. You retain nothing. Topics in the book that usually span chapters in other books takes this author a paragraph or two to explain. Sure he covers it all, but never really explains anything. As a reader you retain nothing.
Once I was finished with the book, I still had no idea how to code in C# or how to use DirectX (even at a beginner level).
Don't take this shortcut. Invest the time in a real series of books if you are interested in programming in C# or game programming. This book is a real waste of time and money.
