Reddit mentions of Microsoft Visual C# Step by Step (Developer Reference)

John Sharp's Microsoft Visual C# Step by Step is a great book. It teaches beginner, intermediate, and advanced concepts.

https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Visual-Step-Developer-Reference/dp/1509301046

I just found the following book, and I think it actually looks a bit better than the C# 6.0 in a nutshell book. I'd appreciate if someone could give his/her personal opinions on it.



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1509301046?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I found Visual Studio C# Step by step to be a good book for people who are just starting or are even on intermediate level.

I have actually been using this book to learn C# and it has been helping immensely. It even tells you where in the book to begin based on your programming experience. Big book, but it really breaks everything down and lets you know how everything works.

I learned with the 7th edition of the Microsoft Step by Step book and found it an excellent introduction to the language. I also went into C# with prior programming experience, so I wanted something more wholesome than a introductory programming book. I would recommend it if you're already familiar with programming.

As far as Unity goes, there are a ton of tutorials out there for both 2D and 3D, just do a quick google search. Their tutorials page also has a couple of 2D-specific tutorials that should help you along. I wouldn't recommend using a book to study Unity, as in my experience tinkering around with the game engine is far more useful for learning. Set up your own projects and learn by discovery.

edit: I'm just going to toss this in here, but Monogame was a big help for me in learning how to program both C# and games. If you're more interested in 2D game development, this might be a good way to go. Monogame is going to be substantially more programming-heavy than Unity, however.

I would suggest Microsoft Visual C# Step by Step. I haven't read this version of the book but the 2013 edition was very well written so I would bet this one is just the same. Although it isn't directed to game development, having a solid grasp on C# will allow you to learn unity much quicker. If you have any questions feel free to shoot me a PM and I will try to help!

Originally MS published a great beginner series called "Learn {thing} Visually" and there was a book for each subject. Instead of teaching boring fundamentals of coding, it started by making simple Windows forms which were drag and drop and slowly taught the programming. I use to buy a stack of these books (they were like $13 on Amazon) and anytime somebody had a series interest I would get one from my trunk and give them the book.

Apparently this series was replaced with the "step by step" series:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1509301046/