how hard is it to learn C# and asp.net

mobiblu

Senior member
May 30, 2005
363
0
0
I just graduated with a degree in CIS, without any experience i'm find zero luck at landing a job. So my brother-in-law pull a contact and landed me a job at this small company. Problem is...the job require me to work with C# and asp.net. It over 2 years since i had a basic C++ class. I'm studing from 4 book right now and feeling more stupid by the minutes. Any advice as of where to begin?
 

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0
About as hard as learning Java and JSP.

WTF do you study in CIS? Not a lot of programming or CS, apparently?
 

mobiblu

Senior member
May 30, 2005
363
0
0
Originally posted by: notfred
About as hard as learning Java and JSP.

WTF do you study in CIS? Not a lot of programming or CS, apparently?


CIS: half business/ half on database
not a lot of programming :(
 

Descartes

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
13,968
2
0
It's not going to be something you can just "pick up." If they understand that you are new and don't expect you to be immediately productive then you might be able to swing it, but otherwise you're looking at years before you're at any level of competency.

It all depends on the demands of the company.
 

mobiblu

Senior member
May 30, 2005
363
0
0
Originally posted by: Eeezee
How about you learn Java and PhP instead?

The place i'm going to work for require me to do things in C# and asp.net, so no choice
 

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
81
Originally posted by: notfred
About as hard as learning Java and JSP.

WTF do you study in CIS? Not a lot of programming or CS, apparently?

C# is really really easy to approach... but if you don't the foundations of OOP, anything you write will be aweful.

Anyone with a CS degree shouldn't have issues picking up any new language - the principles and design patters are more or less the same, it's just the syntax that differs.
 

Descartes

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
13,968
2
0
Originally posted by: halik
Originally posted by: notfred
About as hard as learning Java and JSP.

WTF do you study in CIS? Not a lot of programming or CS, apparently?

C# is really really easy to approach... but if you don't the foundations of OOP, anything you write will be aweful.

Anyone with a CS degree shouldn't have issues picking up any new language - the principles and design patters are more or less the same, it's just the syntax that differs.

I agree, but the trouble is that the language itself is probably < 10% of the overall platform. Learning the language is the easy part; it's everything else that takes time.

I'm getting the impression that the OP doesn't have much of a background in development though.
 

NuroMancer

Golden Member
Nov 8, 2004
1,684
1
76
Brutal my CIS degree has me doing OO Design Principals, Java, Architechture models, C#, etc. I also take courses in databases and business, I think you got the short stick with the pointy things on the end.
 

DaShen

Lifer
Dec 1, 2000
10,710
1
0
Not hard at all. Actually ASP.Net and C# are very easy programming languages compared to Java/JSP and C++. I was originally a C++ and a little bit of a Java programmer, but when I got out, I couldn't find anything, so I started to pick up contracts in .NET and build my experience with it.

Buy a few O'Reilley's books. They are red books. Good to use.
AppDev is a good source for online tutorials with video, but it costs money ($$). You can get a free copy of some of there stuff on .NET 2005 though.

Check out video google for some other resources. Most importantly try to get a free copy of Visual Studio Express and SQL Server 2005 from the Microsoft Events. Sign up for an event. Actually attempt some small projects, like build a accounting software or something easy like that. And use tek-tips or some other forum to get help. Not ATOT for the most part. If you get good enough, help out on a sourceforge project and then do contracts, this will definitely help boost your resume.

PM me if you want another source that I don't want to publicly list here which is good.
 

DaShen

Lifer
Dec 1, 2000
10,710
1
0
Originally posted by: Eeezee
How about you learn Java and PhP instead?

:roll:

How about you learn C++, Perl, IA-32, Fortran, Scheme, and Haskell?

Anyways. If you have a Java platform, why use PHP, why not use JSP? PHP is good, but mostly I have found that it is good with Perl for networking and security, IT stuff.

If you use PHP, you might as well use MySQL instead of Oracle or SQL Server.

**EDIT**
BTW, I am betting my C++ and Java programming is crap now, so OP, if you learn one language try to review your old languages every once in a while. Look at some old code you or an opensource program to review.
 

Stuxnet

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2005
8,392
1
0
Originally posted by: halik
Originally posted by: notfred
About as hard as learning Java and JSP.

WTF do you study in CIS? Not a lot of programming or CS, apparently?

C# is really really easy to approach... but if you don't the foundations of OOP, anything you write will be aweful.

Anyone with a CS degree shouldn't have issues picking up any new language - the principles and design patters are more or less the same, it's just the syntax that differs.


Exactly. What you really need to learn is the .NET framework... not just C#. C# as a language is not difficult. As Halik said, it's just another OOP language. If your OOP skills are strong, then you're ahead of most of the professionals anyway. Learn by doing. Follow the free tutorials online. Watch the videos. Use one of your hobbies as a basis for a small project (this is how I approach learning any new language). That way you're not just reading and memorizing, but instead you're involved in something you're passionate about while you're learning this.
 

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
81
Originally posted by: jbourne77
Originally posted by: halik
Originally posted by: notfred
About as hard as learning Java and JSP.

WTF do you study in CIS? Not a lot of programming or CS, apparently?

C# is really really easy to approach... but if you don't the foundations of OOP, anything you write will be aweful.

Anyone with a CS degree shouldn't have issues picking up any new language - the principles and design patters are more or less the same, it's just the syntax that differs.


Exactly. What you really need to learn is the .NET framework... not just C#. C# as a language is not difficult. As Halik said, it's just another OOP language. If your OOP skills are strong, then you're ahead of most of the professionals anyway. Learn by doing. Follow the free tutorials online. Watch the videos. Use one of your hobbies as a basis for a small project (this is how I approach learning any new language). That way you're not just reading and memorizing, but instead you're involved in something you're passionate about while you're learning this.

By far the best advice and approach. :beer:

 

Jawo

Diamond Member
Jun 15, 2005
4,125
0
0
Two sites that have helped me greatly in my programming exploits are http://www.w3schools.com and http://4guysfromrolla.com/. Both sites have many many examples to teach you how to code. I agree with above...you have to program to learn a new language. The more you ****** up the easier it is to remember your errors in the future!;)
 

torpid

Lifer
Sep 14, 2003
11,631
11
76
.Net and J2EE are very similar. J2EE is a little harder because some parts of it are overly complicated for most needs, and because the UI part of it is one generation behind .Net.

c# is easy to learn, and hard to master. There is a huge gray area between "I know c#" and "I write enterprise applications in c#". In the middle you find people who drag connections onto pages, write their own custom ORM technology, etc.

But, learning c# properly will make it much easier to learn J2EE because at some point the best practices converge.
 

ndruw

Member
Feb 7, 2006
127
0
0
Originally posted by: halik
Originally posted by: jbourne77
Originally posted by: halik
Originally posted by: notfred
About as hard as learning Java and JSP.

WTF do you study in CIS? Not a lot of programming or CS, apparently?

C# is really really easy to approach... but if you don't the foundations of OOP, anything you write will be aweful.

Anyone with a CS degree shouldn't have issues picking up any new language - the principles and design patters are more or less the same, it's just the syntax that differs.


Exactly. What you really need to learn is the .NET framework... not just C#. C# as a language is not difficult. As Halik said, it's just another OOP language. If your OOP skills are strong, then you're ahead of most of the professionals anyway. Learn by doing. Follow the free tutorials online. Watch the videos. Use one of your hobbies as a basis for a small project (this is how I approach learning any new language). That way you're not just reading and memorizing, but instead you're involved in something you're passionate about while you're learning this.

By far the best advice and approach. :beer:

yes, it is the best advice. necessity is the mother of invention - if you find a use for progamming, you willl find it easier to do

 

Stuxnet

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2005
8,392
1
0
From my own personal experience, I tend to buy a couple books that can be read or used as a reference (as opposed to buying a book that is specifically geared toward being reference material, or a book that was written as course instruction). The O'Reilly books are my favorite. They are excellent reference books that oftentimes have wonderful instructional material in them. Since you'll be focusing on C# and ASP.NET, consider picking up the "Nutshell" books for those two topics. I happen to have both and they're excellent. My second choice would be books from Wrox publishing. Wrox can be a little more hit or miss, simply because they tend to through 17 writers at a book, and you end up with 17 very disparate chapters and zero flow. They also tend to be written as purely instructional books rather than instructional/reference.

If you do go the "Nutshell" route, which I recommend, you may also later consider picking up the "Cookbooks" (also by O'Reilly) for ASP.NET and C#. The cookbooks give real-world solutions to real-world examples. These are helpful in that they explain the reasoning behind the methods used to solve a problem and they (usually) employ best practices. It's vital that you learn good habbits right now.