C# in a Nutshell was inevitable, much like the dawn or your liability for income tax. As the C# language has gathered speed--it's one of the languages that Microsoft encourages you to use for .NET development--its users have anticipated the release of an authoritative reference for the language and its key APIs. That's what this book is: a reference, meant to give you a few chapters on basic structure and syntax before launching into categorized and alphabetized listings of classes and their members. It's sufficiently well written and organized that, given experience with other distributed application environments and some knowledge of .NET, you could learn the language from this book alone. However, this is not a tutorial for people new to Microsoft programming, or new to network computing.
The syntax guide is clear and concise, with brief statements of what operators, data structures, and syntax elements are for. There also are examples (both generic and with illustrative data) in this section. The API reference is organized by namespace (System, System.Collections, System.Reflection, System.Xml, and so on), with each section containing an alphabetical list of members. Each listing includes syntax guides to the element's constructors, methods, and properties, as well as a hierarchy statement and lists of other classes from which instances of the current member is returned and to which it is passed. Don't look for examples in the API reference, but the author's prose statements of what classes are for should help you along the way to a working application.

C++ in a Nutshell packs an enormous amount of information on C++ (and the many libraries used with it) in an indispensable quick reference for those who live in a deadline-driven world and need the facts but not the frills. The book's language reference is organized first by topic, followed by an alphabetical reference to the language's keywords, complete with syntax summaries and pointers to the topic references. The library reference is organized by header file, and each library chapter and class declaration presents the classes and types in alphabetical order for easy lookup. Cross-references link related methods, classes, and other key features. This is an ideal resource for students as well as professional programmers. When you're programming, you need answers to questions about language syntax, or parameters required by library routines quickly. C++ in a Nutshell is a concise desktop reference that answers these questions, putting the full power of this flexible, adaptable (but somewhat difficult to master) language at every C++ programmer's fingertips.

Learning a language--any language--involves a process wherein you learn to rely less and less on instruction and more increasingly on the aspects of the language you've mastered. Whether you're learning French, Java, or C, at some point you'll set aside the tutorial and attempt to converse on your own. It's not necessary to know every subtle facet of French in order to speak it well, especially if there's a good dictionary available. Likewise, C programmers don't need to memorize every detail of C in order to write good programs. What they need instead is a reliable, comprehensive reference that they can keep nearby. C in a Nutshell is that reference...