Microsoft C# Programming for the Absolute Beginner

513 Pages·2002·10.88 MB·English

by  Andy Harris

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Microsoft
®
C#
Programming
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Microsoft
®
C#
Programming
Andy Harris
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© 2002 by Premier Press. All rights reserved. No part of Publisher:
this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any Stacy L. Hiquet
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any informa- Marketing Manager:
tion storage or retrieval system without written per- Heather Buzzingham
mission from Premier Press, except for the inclusion of
brief quotations in a review. Managing Editor:
Sandy Doell
The Premier Press logo, top edge printing,
and related trade dress is a trademark of Pre-
Project Editor:
mier Press, Inc. and may not be used with-
Amy Pettinella
out written permission. All other
trademarks are the property of their respec-
Editorial Assistant:
tive owners.
Margaret Bauer
Microsoft, Windows, Internet Explorer, Notepad,
Technical Reviewer:
VBScript, ActiveX, and FrontPage are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in David Talbot
the United States and/or other countries.
Copy Editor:
All other trademarks are the property of their respec- Kate Talbot
tive owners.
Interior Layout:
Important: Premier Press cannot provide software sup-
William Hartman
port. Please contact the appropriate software manufac-
turer’s technical support line or Web site for assistance.
Cover Design:
Premier Press and the author have attempted through- Mike Tanamachi
out this book to distinguish proprietary trademarks
from descriptive terms by following the capitalization CD-ROM Producer:
style used by the manufacturer. David Talbot
Information contained in this book has been obtained Indexer:
by Premier Press from sources believed to be reliable. Johnna VanHoose Dinse
However, because of the possibility of human or
mechanical error by our sources, Premier Press, or oth- Proofreader:
ers, the Publisher does not guarantee the accuracy, ade- Lisa Neal Shaw
quacy, or completeness of any information and is not
responsible for any errors or omissions or the results
obtained from use of such information. Readers should
be particularly aware of the fact that the Internet is an
ever-changing entity. Some facts may have changed
since this book went to press.
ISBN: 1-931841-16-0
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 20011098165
Printed in the United States of America
02 03 04 05 RI 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To Heather, Elizabeth, Matthew, and Jacob
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Acknowledgments
T
hanks first to Him from whom all life flows.
Heather, you work harder at these books than I do. I appreciate your sac-
rifices and your love more than ever. Thanks also to Jacob, Elizabeth, and
Matthew for understanding why Daddy was typing all the time.
A special thank you to everyone at Premier. This group has shown its character
in the time it took to produce this book. I appreciate those I know about, and the
many others whose work goes unseen.
Thank you especially Stacy Hiquet for getting me started on this project, and to
Amy Pettinella for her help and encouragement. Thanks to Kate Talbot for turn-
ing my mush into something readable, and for laughing at my jokes before she
deleted them.
I can’t thank David Talbot enough for his dual role as technical editor and CD-
ROM producer. His advice and insight make this a far better book than it other-
wise would have been.
A very special thanks to the Spring 2002, CSCI 490 class at IUPUI. You never com-
plained about being guinea pigs, you worked from my very raw manuscript, and
you taught me far more than I was able to teach you.
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About the Author
A
ndy Harrisbegan his teaching career as a high school special education
teacher. During that time, he taught himself enough computing to do
part-time computer consulting and database work. He began teaching
computing at the university level in the late 1980s as a part-time job.
Since 1995 he has been a full-time lecturer in the Computer Science Department
of Indiana University/Purdue University–Indianapolis (IUPUI), where he manages
the Streaming Media Lab and teaches classes in several programming languages.
His primary interests are Java, Microsoft languages, Perl, JavaScript, and dynamic
HTML, virtual reality, portable devices, and streaming media.
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Contents at a
Glance
Introduction xxv
CHAPTER 1 Basic Input and Output: A Mini Adventure 1
CHAPTER 2 Branching and Operators: The Math Game 35
CHAPTER 3 Loops and Strings: The Pig Latin Program 67
CHAPTER 4 Objects and Encapsulation: The Critter Program 99
CHAPTER 5 Constructors, Inheritance, and Polymorphism:
The Snowball Fight 129
CHAPTER 6 Creating a Windows Program: The Visual Critter 165
CHAPTER 7 Timers and Animation: The Lunar Lander 211
CHAPTER 8 Arrays: The Soccer Game 253
CHAPTER 9 File Handling: The Adventure Kit 293
CHAPTER 10 Chapter Basic XML: The Quiz Maker 345
CHAPTER 11 Databases and ADO.NET: The Spy Database 397
Index 457