Developers have long sought a language that combined the simplicity of Visual Basic with the power and flexibility of C++. For them, Microsoft has created C# -- systematically incorporating features intended to simplify the development of next-generation components and services. Now, one of the world's leading C++ experts and authors presents a start-to-finish, practical introduction developers need to leverage their existing skills with Microsoft's breakthrough new language. Stanley B. Lippman -- who was on the ground floor of the worldwide C++ revolution -- focuses on C# as a tool for building sophisticated COM+ components and Web services. Using extensive program examples, Lippman walks step-by-step through the fundamentals of C# syntax, classes, and object-oriented programming; inheritance, interfaces, delegates, events, attributes, reflection, exception handling, namespaces, assemblies, and more. The book concludes with a detailed chapter on interoperability between C# and legacy code. Appendices include a concise C# handbook and a quick tour of the new Visual Studio.NET development environment. For all intermediate programmers and developers who want to leverage their C, C++, or Java skills with Microsoft's new C#.