I have received an advanced copy of the book Fluent C# by noted .NET author Rebecca Riordan. Since this blog is often about what I am doing, I am going to give you all an inside look at what I feel is the most innovative and groundbreaking method of teaching programing skills that I have seen come along in quite some time. I intend to go chapter by chapter reviewing the concepts of what the book is teaching.
The first thing that grabs you is the cover of the book. It is not your typical programming book cover. It is….almost artsy and fun.
No computer like lettering or images of how powerful you can become. It makes you want to smile. At first I didn’t like it at all. It doesn’t look feel or look like what a “computer book” should to me or at least what I would expect. As the book began I was stunned. I have never seen a computer programming book look like so!
The images really just jump off the page at you and grab your attention. I am used to a text learning process. So this was going to be something new. But as I progressed to the end of this chapter I really began to feel like this might be a new way to learn.
I had the opportunity to ask a few questions of the author of Fluent C#. She said that Fluent C# was “an introduction development in the C# language with .NET and WPF, aimed at beginning programmers” and that Fluent C# was different than other C# tutorials because of
“1) learn the way your brain learns, by trial & error rather than lecture and dictation
2) heavy use of graphics appeals to all the senses, making it easier to remember
3) concepts first, details later, just the way the brain works”
All in all I think I am going to find this book an interesting read and definitely a new way to learn. I am very much looking forward to it.
