INTRODUCTION xxvii PART I: THE VISUAL STUDIO IDE AND CONTROLS LESSON 1: GETTING STARTED WITH THE VISUAL STUDIO IDE 3 Installing C# 4 Configuring the IDE 6 Building Your First Program 7 Copying Projects 12 Exploring the IDE 13 Try It 16 Lesson Requirements 17 Hints 17 Step-by-Step 17 Exercises 20 LESSON 2: CREATING CONTROLS 21 Understanding Controls 21 Properties 22 Methods 22 Events 22 Creating Controls 23 Setting Control Properties 24 Control Names 26 Popular Properties 27 Modifying Properties in Code 28 Arranging Controls 30 Snap Lines 30 Arrow Keys 31 The Format Menu and Layout Toolbar 31 WPF Controls 32 Try It 32 Lesson Requirements 33 Hints 33 Step-by-Step 33 Exercises 37 LESSON 3: MAKING CONTROLS ARRANGE THEMSELVES 43 Restricting Form Size 44 Using Anchor Properties 44 Using Dock Properties 47 Layout Containers 48 Windows Forms Controls 48 WPF Controls 49 Try It 50 Lesson Requirements 51 Hints 51 Step-by-Step 52 Exercises 52 LESSON 4: HANDLING EVENTS 57 Making Event Handlers 57 Using Event Parameters 59 Setting Scrollbar Properties 60 Tracking Mouse Movement 61 Moving the Mouse Picture 61 Removing Event Handlers 62 Adding and Removing Event Handlers in Code 62 Useful Events 63 Try It 65 Lesson Requirements 65 Hints 65 Step-by-Step 66 Exercises 66 LESSON 5: MAKING MENUS 73 Creating Menus 73 Setting Menu Properties 75 Handling Menu Events 76 Creating Context Menus 77 WPF Menus 78 WPF Context Menus 79 WPF Commanding 79 Try It 80 Lesson Requirements 80 Hints 81 Step-by-Step 81 Exercises 83 LESSON 6: MAKING TOOL STRIPS AND STATUS STRIPS 89 Using Tool Strips 89 Using Tool Strip Containers 91 Using Status Strips 92 Try It 93 Lesson Requirements 93 Hints 95 Step-by-Step 95 Exercises 98 LESSON 7: USING RICHTEXTBOXES 103 Using RichTextBox Properties 103 Giving the User Control 105 Using RichTextBox Methods 106 Using WPF Commands 108 Try It 110 Lesson Requirements 110 Hints 110 Step-by-Step 110 Exercises 112 LESSON 8: USING STANDARD DIALOGS 115 Using Dialogs in General 116 Adding the Dialog to the Form 117 Initializing the Dialog 117 Displaying the Dialog and Checking the Return Result 118 Processing the Results 119 Putting It All Together 120 Using Dialog Properties 120 Using File Filters 123 Using Dialogs in WPF 124 Try It 126 Lesson Requirements 126 Hints 127 Step-by-Step 127 Exercises 130 LESSON 9: CREATING AND DISPLAYING NEW FORMS 133 Adding New Forms 133 Understanding Classes and Instances 134 Displaying Forms 135 Controlling Remote Forms 138 Try It 140 Lesson Requirements 141 Hints 141 Step-by-Step 141 Exercises 143 LESSON 10: BUILDING CUSTOM DIALOGS 147 Making Custom Dialogs 147 Setting the Dialog Result 148 Using Custom Dialogs 149 Try It 150 Lesson Requirements 150 Hints 151 Step-by-Step 151 Exercises 153 PART II: VARIABLES AND CALCULATIONS LESSON 11: USING VARIABLES AND PERFORMING CALCULATIONS 161 What Are Variables? 161 Data Types 161 Float, Double, and Decimal Data Types 163 Declaring Variables 164 Literal Values 165 Type Conversions 167 Casting 168 Converting 169 Parsing 169 Performing Calculations 170 Operands and Operators 171 Promotion 171 Operator Summary 171 Precedence 177 Constants 179 Try It 179 Lesson Requirements 180 Hints 180 Step-by-Step 181 Exercises 182 LESSON 12: DEBUGGING CODE 187 Deferred Techniques 187 Debugging Then and Now 188 Setting Breakpoints 188 Reading Variables 189 Stepping through Code 190 Using Watches 191 Using the Immediate Window 192 Try It 193 Lesson Requirements 193 Step-by-Step 194 Exercises 196 LESSON 13: UNDERSTANDING SCOPE 199 Scope within a Class 199 Same Named Variables 200 Method Variable Lifetime 201 Block Scope 202 Accessibility 203 Restricting Scope and Accessibility 204 Try It 204 Lesson Requirements 205 Hints 205 Step-by-Step 205 Exercises 208 LESSON 14: WORKING WITH STRINGS 211 String Methods 211 Format and ToString 213 Standard Numeric Formats 215 Custom Numeric Formats 217 Standard Date and Time Formats 218 Custom Date and Time Formats 219 Try It 222 Lesson Requirements 222 Hints 222 Step-by-Step 222 Exercises 223 LESSON 15: WORKING WITH DATES AND TIMES 225 Creating DateTime Variables 225 Local and UTC Time 226 DateTime Properties and Methods 226 TimeSpans 228 Try It 229 Lesson Requirements 230 Hints 230 Step-by-Step 230 Exercises 231 LESSON 16: USING ARRAYS AND COLLECTIONS 233 Arrays 233 Creating Arrays 234 A Fibonacci Example 235 Multi-Dimensional Arrays 236 Array Properties and Methods 237 Collection Classes 238 Generic Classes 239 Lists 240 SortedLists 240 Dictionaries 242 Queues 242 Stacks 242 Try It 243 Lesson Requirements 243 Step-by-Step 244 Exercises 245 LESSON 17: USING ENUMERATIONS AND STRUCTURES 249 Enumerations 249 Structures 250 Structures versus Classes 251 Reference Types 251 Value Types 252 Other Differences 252 Where to Put Structures 254 Try It 254 Lesson Requirements 255 Step-by-Step 255 Exercises 257 PART III: PROGRAM STATEMENTS LESSON 18: MAKING CHOICES 263 Decision Statements 263 if Statements 264 if-else Statements 265 Cascading if Statements 265 Nested if Statements 266 switch Statements 267 Try It 269 Lesson Requirements 269 Hints 269 Step-by-Step 269 Exercises 270 LESSON 19: REPEATING PROGRAM STEPS 275 for Loops 275 foreach Loops 277 while Loops 278 do Loops 279 break and continue 281 Try It 282 Lesson Requirements 282 Hints 282 Step-by-Step 283 Exercises 284 LESSON 20: REUSING CODE WITH METHODS 289 Method Advantages 290 Method Syntax 291 Using ref Parameters 294 Using out Parameters 295 Try It 296 Lesson Requirements 296 Hints 296 Step-by-Step 296 Exercises 298 LESSON 21: HANDLING ERRORS 301 Errors and Exceptions 301 try-catch Blocks 302 TryParse 304 Throwing Exceptions 305 Try It 307 Lesson Requirements 307 Hints 308 Step-by-Step 308 Exercises 309 LESSON 22: PREVENTING BUGS 313 Input Assertions 313 Other Assertions 316 Try It 316 Lesson Requirements 317 Hints 317 Step-by-Step 317 Exercises 319 PART IV: CLASSES LESSON 23: DEFINING CLASSES 325 What Is a Class? 325 Class Benefi ts 326 Making a Class 327 Properties 327 Try It 330 Lesson Requirements 330 Step-by-Step 330 Methods 331 Events 332 Delegates 332 Event Handler Delegates 333 Try It 336 Lesson Requirements 336 Hints 337 Step-by-Step 337 Inheritance 339 Polymorphism 340 Try It 341 Lesson Requirements 341 Hints 341 Step-by-Step 342 Exercises 344 LESSON 24: INITIALIZING OBJECTS 347 Initializing Objects 347 Constructors 348 Parameterless Constructors 349 Parameterized Constructors 349 Destructors 350 Invoking Other Constructors 352 Try It 354 Lesson Requirements 354 Hints 355 Step-by-Step 355 Exercises 358 LESSON 25: FINE-TUNING CLASSES 361 Overloading Methods 361 Overriding Methods 362 Overriding ToString 363 Try It 365 Lesson Requirements 365 Hints 365 Step-by-Step 366 Exercises 367 LESSON 26: OVERLOADING OPERATORS 371 Overloadable Operators 371 Unary Operators 372 Binary Operators 373 Comparison Operators 374 Conversion Operators 374 Try It 375 Lesson Requirements 375 Hints 376 Step-by-Step 376 Exercises 379 LESSON 27: USING INTERFACES 383 Interface Advantages 383 Multiple Inheritance 383 Code Generalization 384 Implementing Interfaces 385 Defining Interfaces 388 Try It 389 Lesson Requirements 389 Hints 390 Step-by-Step 390 Exercises 392 LESSON 28: MAKING GENERIC CLASSES 397 Defining Generic Classes 397 Using Generic Constraints 399 Making Generic Methods 400 Try It 401 Lesson Req.