7 Best-Selling .NET Books Millions Trust

What makes this book distinct is how it confronts security as a fundamental aspect of .NET development, not just an afterthought. Adam Freeman and Allen Jones draw on their extensive experience with major tech companies to unpack .NET's security architecture, illustrating concepts like identity, authentication, and authorization with clear examples in both C# and VB.NET. You'll gain practical understanding of .NET runtime security, cryptographic APIs, and Code Access Security, along with guidance on securing ASP.NET applications and auditing Windows security events. This is a solid choice if you need a deep dive into applying security principles specifically within the .NET framework, though beginners might find the technical depth challenging at first.

Drawing from their hands-on experience with NUnit, a key .NET unit-testing framework, James Newkirk and Alexei Vorontsov developed this guide to show how test-driven development (TDD) can reshape your coding practice. You’ll see how to write tests first to clarify requirements, reduce bugs, and incrementally improve your code’s design and reliability. The authors walk you through applying TDD in a multi-layered .NET application, including how to handle user interface code as a thin layer atop well-tested logic. If you’re aiming to make your .NET applications more maintainable and robust, this book lays out concrete techniques and examples that can change how you build software.

This tailored book explores proven coding techniques and best practices specifically for .NET development, matching your background and goals. It covers core concepts such as efficient code design, debugging tactics, and performance optimization, while diving into advanced topics like asynchronous programming and secure application development. By focusing on the areas you find most relevant, this personalized guide reveals how popular, battle-tested methods can be adapted to your unique needs. Engaging and practical, it offers a custom learning experience that examines key elements of .NET programming in a way that aligns with your skill level and interests.

Unlike most .NET books that focus on basic application development, Fiach Reid's "Network Programming in .NET" dives deep into designing and implementing network-oriented applications using both C# and VB.NET. You gain insights into selecting efficient strategies for mission-critical solutions, including how to weigh third-party components against in-house development. The book stands out by covering advanced topics like Telephony in .NET and packet-level networking, areas rarely explored in other texts. If you’re an experienced developer aiming to enhance your .NET networking skills with practical, ready-to-use information, this book delivers exactly that without unnecessary filler.

What happens when deep programming expertise meets the everyday challenges of .NET development? Venkat Subramaniam delivers a practical exploration of 75 frequent pitfalls encountered in C# and VB.NET programs, offering clear examples and explanations that demystify common errors. You'll gain insight into how to avoid issues that degrade application performance or cause subtle bugs, with chapters dedicated to different .NET features that often trip up developers. For anyone writing or maintaining .NET code, this book provides a grounded, no-frills guide to improving your code's reliability and maintainability without drowning in jargon. If you're aiming to write cleaner, more efficient .NET applications, this book is built for you.

When Jesse Liberty recognized that many C# books catered primarily to experienced programmers, he crafted this guide specifically for beginners eager to learn C# 2.0 and .NET programming. You’ll explore the language’s syntax and structure—covering operators, classes, interfaces, and more—through clear explanations and numerous tested examples. The book introduces Visual Studio 2005 and dives into features like generics, anonymous methods, and event handling, making it ideal for those with little or no programming background. If you want a solid foundation to confidently transition into building Windows and web applications, this book lays the groundwork without overwhelming you.

This tailored book explores the path to rapidly advancing your .NET skills through a focused, step-by-step learning journey. It combines widely recognized knowledge with insights personalized to your background and goals, ensuring each chapter matches your interests and current level. You’ll progress efficiently by tackling key concepts, practical coding exercises, and real-world applications, all designed to accelerate your mastery of .NET development. By addressing your specific ambitions and experience, this personalized guide reveals how to build confidence and technical ability in .NET within 30 days. It invites you to engage deeply with essential topics while moving at a pace suited precisely to you, making skill growth both manageable and motivating.

Mario Hewardt’s deep experience at Microsoft shines through in this focused guide to debugging .NET applications using native tools like WinDBG and CDB. You’ll learn how to uncover root causes of complex bugs faster by mastering CLR internals, thread-specific data, and managed heap analysis. The book walks you through advanced techniques for handling synchronization issues, interoperability challenges, and crash dump analysis, all illustrated with real-world C# examples. If you’re tasked with diagnosing stubborn .NET problems or architecting robust software, this resource offers a solid, tool-driven approach to elevate your debugging skills.

Wei-Meng Lee's extensive experience with Microsoft technologies shines through in this detailed exploration of ASP.NET 2.0, a significant upgrade in web development frameworks. You learn by doing, engaging with nearly 50 hands-on projects that focus on new features like master pages for consistent layouts, themes and skins for design uniformity, and automatic mobile page creation. The book’s practical approach demystifies how these tools can streamline your coding process, especially with wizards and controls that minimize manual coding. If you build web applications on the Microsoft stack, this book immerses you in the specific enhancements and productivity boosters that ASP.NET 2.0 offers.