Rod Stephens - The Modern C# Challenge: Become an expert C# programmer by solving interesting programming problems

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First published: October 2018

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ISBN 978-1-78953-542-6

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Rod Stephens has been a software developer, consultant, instructor, and author. He has written more than 30 books and 250 magazine articles covering such topics as three-dimensional graphics, algorithms, database design, software engineering, interview puzzles, C#, and Visual Basic.

Rod's popular C# Helper and VB Helper websites receive millions of hits per year and contain thousands of tips, tricks, and example programs for C# and Visual Basic developers. Some of his most recent books include:

• WPF 3d : Three-Dimensional Graphics with WPF and C#
• Interview Puzzles Dissected: Solving and Understanding Interview Puzzles
• Beginning Software Engineering
• Essential Algorithms: A Practical Approach to Computer Algorithms

Luis Felipe is a software developer with a degree in software analysis and development, and he is studying for a specialization in software engineering. The main technologies he works with are ASP.NET Core, Angular (2+), SQL Server databases and MongoDB. He has been studying the C# language for almost 10 years and has passed the Microsoft 70-483 certification exam Programming with C#.

He currently works for the public ministry, working with the developing team to build the most important software for the institution of the last years. He also worked as a freelance developer, working on desktop and web applications using C#.

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So you've read an introductory book and perhaps one or two more advanced books. You've worked with C# for a while and now you're ready for something that wasn't written for idiots or dummies. This book may be just the thing!

This book includes 100 problems (with solutions) that you can use to test and hone your C# programming skills. They cover an eclectic assortment of topics, such as mathematical calculations, geometry, dates and times, the filesystem, simulations, and cryptography. These problems won't make you an expert in those fields, but they will give you some experience with a wide variety of useful topics.

As with many skills, the best way to learn programming is to practice. Most programming books cover roughly the same topics, so they don't give you the opportunity to practice skills that fall into the programming nooks and crannies that those books miss. They do a good job of covering basic topics, such as forms, controls, classes, and for loops. More advanced books also cover more specialized topics, such as algorithms (I've written a few algorithms books), databases, web programming, and phone apps. Few books have room for more specialized topics, such as mathematical calculations, simulations, and cryptography. You'll get a brief introduction to those topics here.

In addition to giving you practice with some of programming's less heavily-trodden byways, many of the examples in this book demonstrate important C# programming concepts. They show how to protect your programs from integer and floating point overflow, avoid exhausting stack memory, know when LINQ or PLINQ might hurt performance, handle times in multiple time zones, and use the yield statement.