>Hi Ed,
>I'm getting ready to dive head first into C#. Just ordered 2 books from Wrox Beginning C# and Pro C#. I did a fair amount of work in C back in the early 80's then got away from it before C++ came around. Is C# considered a subset of C++ or does C# have all the functionality of C++? The version of C I used was a very minimual langauge. If I remember correctly it had only 32 keywords and took lot's coding to accomplish much, which was the main reason for learning Basic, and Fox.
>

It's close to C/C++ in syntax; it does not have all the object model options of C++, and doesn't have the inconsistencies of the VB instruction set and syntax. You don't need a lot of operators to create a strong language; everything is in libraries - I don't have to write the code to perform formatted output every time, I just call functions or methods. The same idea as anything else in the .Net architecture - you don't need to know what goes on underneath the cover to program in C#; it's got at least the same degree of power of expressiveness as VB, without the quirks of expression.