Lesson 1: I. Introduction to Visual C#

I. What is Microsoft Visual Studio.NET?

C# is a general-purpose, modern and object-oriented programming language pronounced as “C sharp”. It was developed by Microsoft led by Anders Hejlsberg and his team within the .Net initiative and was approved by the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) and International Standards Organization (ISO). C# is among the languages for Common Language Infrastructure and the current version of C# is version 7.2. C# is a lot similar to Java syntactically and is easy for the users who have knowledge of C, C++ or Java.

A bit about .Net Framework

.Net applications are multi-platform applications and framework can be used from languages like C++, C#, Visual Basic, COBOL etc. It is designed in a manner so that other languages can use it.

know more about .Net Framework

Why C#?

C# has many other reasons for being popular and in demand. Few of the reasons are mentioned below:

Easy to start: C# is a high-level language so it is closer to other popular programming languages like C, C++, and Java and thus becomes easy to learn for anyone.

Widely used for developing Desktop and Web Application: C# is widely used for developing web applications and Desktop applications. It is one of the most popular languages that is used in professional desktop. If anyone wants to create Microsoft apps, C# is their first choice.

Community:The larger the community the better it is as new tools and software will be developing to make it better. C# has a large community so the developments are done to make it exist in the system and not become extinct.

Game Development: C# is widely used in game development and will continue to dominate. C# integrates with Microsoft and thus has a large target audience. The C# features such as Automatic Garbage Collection, interfaces, object-oriented, etc. make C# a popular game developing language.

Beginning with C# programming:

Finding a Compiler:

There are various online IDEs such as GeeksforGeeks ide, CodeChef ide etc. which can be used to run C# programs without installing.

Windows: Since the C# is developed within .Net framework initiative by Microsoft, it provide various IDEs to run C# programs: Microsoft Visual Studio, Visual Studio Express, Visual Web Developer

Linux: Mono can be used to run C# programs on Linux.

Programming in C#:

Since the C# is a lot similar to other widely used languages syntactically, it is easier to code and learn in C#.

Programs can be written in C# in any of the widely used text editors like Notepad++, gedit, etc. or on any of the compilers. After writing the program save the file with the extension .cs.