How hard is it to learn dotNET?

I'm a jr. in college and know C++, not using visual studio though, and I want to start learning .NET over break. About how long will it take if I get .NET and a book and start to teach myself? I under stand object oriented programming pretty well. What would be a good book to get ? any suggestions??? Are .NET programmers in high demand???





Thanks!

How hard is it to learn dotNET?
If you are fairly proficient in c++, you should have no trouble with c# or visual basic. Also, c++ can be used in the .NET environment in many ways, including the new c++/cli.





I recommend, however, if you are going to go with .NET, use c# or Visual Basic. C# has the most support of the three languages under .NET as it was designed specifically for .NET.





The best book for someone like you would be Andrew Troelsen's Pro C# 2005 and the .Net 2.0 Platform. It's a great book. It works for folks who know how to program, understand OOP, and need to pick up the language quickly.





It's published by Apress, which, personally for me, publishes the best books in the business.





Take a look at this link for starters.





http://www.apress.com/book/catalog?categ...