C# Academy: Learn the Basics of C# (2014)

Chapter 1. What is C #?

C# (Pronounced“C-Sharp”) is a kind of programming language that covers component oriented and object oriented programming, together with generic, functional, declarative, and imperative methods, as well as strong typing.

Developed during Microsoft’s .NET initiative, the intention was to create a programming language that would be a general purpose one. A team of IT experts and language makers were then tasked to create this new programming language, which was originally called Cool.

Well, the name had to be changed because of trademark issues, and ASP.NET and class libraries runtime where then transported as C#.

The name came about because of the Sharp (#) note in musical notation. This means that everything has to be incremented by one, just like what happens with C++.

Since the Sharp sign is not really available in keywords, the number sign (#) also known as hashtag, is primarily used to represent the said language. It only differs when it comes to box art, and other forms of advertising.

It has since been used for Microsoft’s Rotor Project as a form of implementing CLR Runtime. It’s also used for the Dot GNU Project, as a subset of other Microsoft Proprietary.

Goals of C#

C# has been designed with the following objectives in mind:

1. To create a language that’s portable for programmers, so they could create better source codes. This would also be easier if they’re already familiar with C and C++.

2. To create a language that would be perfect for creating components of software to make them suitable for various environments.

3. To create incredible software support. This means that it should work for array bounds checking, strong type checking, garbage collection, and even the use of uninitialized variables. This then makes way for productivity and durability—two important aspects of software.

4. To create a language that’s economical, and that has great processing power and memory.

5. To create a language that provides internalization support.

6. To create a language that would be suitable for embedded systems and hosted writing applications—which are extremely useful for sophisticated operating systems.

C# Syntax

In order to understand C#, you have to get to know its syntax. For this, you have to keep the following in mind:

1. You need to use Curly Brackets to create groups of statements. This means that they could then be commonly grouped as functions or methods. Methods could then be grouped into classes, and classes could be grouped into namespaces.

2. Semicolons could be used to denote ends of statements.

3. Square brackets should be used with arrays, so that you could then get different—and original—values from each of them.

4. The Equal (=) sign is used to assign variables. When they’re being compared, you have to use two equal (==) signs.