beginners C# project

[matty241]

From studying a few different C# books I'm starting to get familiar with some basic programming concepts and the C# syntax. I feel at this stage I would make the most amount of progress if there were a sort of beginner project I could attempt.

Anyone have any ideas of a good project that would be suitable for someone who has only been learning for 5-6 weeks

Thanks

Matty ( I tried to look on google but it seems to only come up with beginners' tutorials)

[gaylo565]

Tic-Tac-Toe is a pretty standard first semester project for c#. A simple calculator is a good one to familiarize yourself with some math functions. You can do a simple password and user login for learning to make web applications. None of these require really tough programming although the Tic-Tac-Toe is probably the easiest. Some people think you should start with all console app's...don't really have any good ones of those for ya.

[Xav]

I've suggested a few to TcM - how about a program that calculates prime numbers between a given range? Or, what about a basic RSS reader? I could help you on either if you need it.

[Jordan]

Telnet or FTP client is a good way to learn the basics of networking using C#.

[Xav]

Hmm... I thought networking was considered an advanced topic, or am I wrong?

How about a password generator, where you type in keywords, and it forms passwords out of them?

[Jordan]

I suppose it is but it is good to learn how to use it in any programming language. An FTP client is simple network concepts and provides real world knowledge.

Connecting to a database is something you will likely use in the future and especially in the workplace.

[Xav]

I agree - storing data it one of the most useful tasks a program can have.

However, I usually prefer to store the data in XML Files, as they are a cross between a database and text file. Take a look at the System.Xml namespace for details.

[Jordan]

I disagree. An XML file is nothing more than a flat file or text file that uses a parser. Using an actual database with SQL commands can't come from reading an XML file. IMO every programmer should learn SQL before they begin their career.

[gaylo565]

Sql queries are indeed a very good programming skill. They can be very complicated and some programmers make a living just writing custom data adapters. However the premise is very simple and standard queries can be understood by most levels of programmers. Like Jordan said its a must for career oriented programmers.

[Xav]

Yes, but with .NET you have been provided with many useful classes and objects that can achieve almost exactly the same thing as with SQL. I've never actually experienced a situation in which I couldn't do something in XML that a SQL database couldn't.