Hi, in my computer science (college course) we are learning the c# programming language. i decided to try and get a leg up and learn outside of college. Can any one recommend any good books to learn c# or tutorials? At the moment we are still on procedural console programming.

Try looking at the Microsoft Virtual Academy www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com , it has tons of videos related to C# and programming for Windows in general. The best video to start with C# is the C# Jump Start(if I remember correctly, I very well may not.)

C# Programming Guide
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/67ef8sbd.aspx

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/csharp/csharp_basic_syntax.htm

Is the purpose of the course to learn the language or to serve as an introduction to programming in general?

well learn the language. There doesnt seem to be many good books on c#, my preffered learning stye is reading and learning from books, but i guess i can work from tutorials.

Programming C# 5.0 Building Windows 8, Web, and Desktop Applications for the .NET 4.5 Framework
By Ian Griffiths

CLR via C#
by Jeffrey Richter

both are good books worth looking at.

Microsoft Visual C# 2013 Step by Step - John Sharp
http://it-ebooks.info/book/3794/