So why an e-Book and why does it cover basic OO in .NET? Is this intended for beginners who don't know "real-world" programming and who don't have enough money to buy a real book? What is there to know about OO in .NET that is so special anyway?

First of all, I want to welcome you to this online e-Book. This book is directed toward mid to senior-level developers who already know object-oriented programming from other languages, most likely Java and C++, and who want to starting learning .NET. My goal with this book is to skip trivial tutorials that are a waste of your time at this point in your career (like how to derive a Square class from a Rectangle class, for example) and get to the point. "The point" boils down to these items:

• Cover the new VB.NET and C# syntax for the basic OO stuff that you already know.
• Highlight new twists in .NET of old ideas that you're already familiar with.
• Compare any differences in the above between VB.NET and C#.
• Provide you with a solid foundation of knowledge about OO constructs in .NET.
• Get straight to the point while also providing some comic relief. Not all books have to be boring.

I want to emphasize the fourth point above. I have often witnessed developers simply start slinging code after "adopting" a new language or jump into more advanced material before learning the fundamentals of the language. This is often a very big mistake. Yes, C# looks a lot like Java. And VB.NET from a distance looks like VB 6.0 with inheritance and a new set of libraries, but by the end of this book I hope you'll agree that there's more to it than that. Before you begin building Internet applications, web services, or Windows forms you need a solid, thorough understanding of object fundamentals within .NET.

Like you, I've read a lot of technical books. In addition to meeting all of the goals above, this e-Book is just as much my rebellion against traditional technical books as anything else. The writing you are about to venture into is often very colloquial and purposely written with as few words as necessary except for the sporadic introduction of my bad jokes and puns. No, I haven't tried to make this book as long as possible just in order to look impressive on the shelf of your digital library (for those of you reading the PDF version). And unlike most books, I refuse to assume the reader is a total idiot. My goal is to condense material that other texts spend several pages or more on down to a few paragraphs and simple examples. Hey, if it works, let me know!

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to John Bishop for serving as technical editor of this work.