C#/.Net Programming Books

Why is it that C# and/or .NET programming books feel they have to spend about half of the book explaining how to use Visual Studio? I see no point in wasting about 200 pages on an IDE when you should be focusing on the language. Now I understand that programming C# or any other language for .NET on Windows can be easier if done through Visual Studio and I have used it in the past but if I wanted to know how to use VS I would have gotten a book on VS. I wouldn't even mind it so much but it seems like the focus of most of these books isn't the languages at all but the IDE used that the languages can be programmed. I am probably in the minority here since when I do program in C#/.Net it is actually C# in Mono.

Don't get me wrong I am not bashing Visual Studio. On Windows it has great value if you program for .NET. Of course the same could be said for SharpDevelop. :) In Linux with Mono I like using Monodevelop or just ViM. I think this is where my problem with the books lay. I am not interested in reading about VS AGAIN. I know how to get around in it. I CAN develop using but I choose not to because it doesn't run on the platform that I develop. The worst part about it is you really can't ignore the parts of the books that show VS as there might be some decent tidbit of information mixed in with the explaination of how VS handles certain things.

I have to admit that the information in the books is normally spot on for what I what to learn but finding the information can sometimes be like finding a needle in a haystack. I'm probably making a bigger deal about this than neccessary but when you pay $50 for a book just to have 50% of that book focus on something you really have little interest in it seems like wasted money. Maybe I shouldn't BUY the boooks at all but just get them from the library or try and find the information on the internet. That could probably work but then I am spending a lot of extra time trying to obtain the information instead of programming which is the ultimate goal.

Sites like CodeProject seem to help with some of this as they provide a great deal of information for those willing to look.

Okay, rants over. Nothing to see here. I feel better now even though I still feel like I'm wasting money on the books. Maybe if they didn't spend 50% of the book explaining VS they could charge 50% less for the book. Then I wouldn't feel so bad when I buy the book. :)