I found another thread at ArcObjects Resources that asked for general ArcObjects resources but most of the resources in that thread are obviously about building add-ins for ArcMap.
I need help getting started with building a completely custom application. In other words, if an ESRI logo or ArcGIS button shows up on my program, something's gone really wrong.
Where can I look for resources on this topic? So far, http://www.amazon.com/dp/1118442547/?tag=stackoverfl08-20#reader_1118442547 looks possibly relevant but it's hard to tell because I can't see if the book talks about custom development from the first few pages that Amazon.com provides.
To be super specific, I'm trying to write a program that takes coordinates and a layer that's in an Enterprise Geodatabase (aka ArcSDE) and figures out whether or not each point is inside the layer. I've already found a helpful function in the ArcObjects SDK.