INTRODUCTION: TO MICROSOFT C#

The C# Programming Language 
 

 C# is a modern object-oriented, general-purpose programming language, created and developed by Microsoft together with the .NET platform. There is highly diverse software developed with C# and on the .NET platform: office applications, web applications, websites, desktop applications, mobile applications, games and many others. C# is a high-level language that is similar to Java and C++ and, to some extent, languages like Delphi, VB.NET and C. All C# programs are object-oriented. They consist of a set of definitions in classes that contain methods and the methods contain the program logic – the instructions which the computer executes. You will find out more details on what a class, a method and C# programs are in the next chapter. Nowadays C# is one of the most popular programming languages. It is used by millions of developers worldwide. Because C# is developed by Microsoft as part of their modern platform for development and execution of 

applications, the .NET Framework, the language is widely spread among Microsoft-oriented companies, organizations and individual developers. For better or for worse, as of this book writing, the C# language and the .NET platform are maintained and managed entirely by Microsoft and are not open to third parties. Because of this, all other large software corporations like IBM, Oracle and SAP base their solutions on the Java platform and use Java as their primary language for developing their own software products. Unlike C# and the .NET Framework, the Java language and platform are open-source projects that an entire community of software companies, organizations and individual developers take part in. The standards, the specifications and all the new features in the world of Java are developed by workgroups formed out of the entire Java community, rather than a single company (as the case of C# and .NET Framework). The C# language is distributed together with a special environment on which it is executed, called the Common Language Runtime (CLR). This environment is part of the platform .NET Framework, which includes CLR, a bundle of standard libraries providing basic functionality, compilers, debuggers and other development tools. Thanks to the framework CLR programs are portable and, once written they can function with little or no changes on various hardware platforms and operating systems. C# programs are most commonly run on MS Windows, but the .NET Framework and CLR also support mobile phones and other portable devices based on Windows Mobile, Windows Phone and Windows 8. C# programs can still be run under Linux, FreeBSD, iOS, Android, MacOS X and other operating systems through the free .NET Framework implementation Mono, which, however, is not officially supported by Microsoft.

 The Microsoft .NET Framework

 The C# language is not distributed as a standalone product – it is a part of the Microsoft .NET Framework platform (pronounced "Microsoft dot net framework"). .NET Framework generally consists of an environment for the development and execution of programs, written in C# or some other language, compatible with .NET (like VB.NET, Managed C++, J# or F#). It consists of: - the .NET programming languages (C#, VB.NET and others); - an environment for the execution of managed code (CLR), which executes C# programs in a controlled manner; - a set of development tools, such as the csc compiler, which turns C# programs into intermediate code (called MSIL) that the CLR can understand; - a set of standard libraries, like ADO.NET, which allow access to databases (such as MS SQL Server or MySQL) and WCF which connects applications through standard communication frameworks and protocols like HTTP, REST, JSON, SOAP and TCP sockets. The .NET Framework is part of every modern Windows distribution and is available in different versions. The latest version can be downloaded and installed from Microsoft’s website. As of this book’s publishing, the latest version of the .NET Framework is 4.5. Windows Vista includes out-of-thebox .NET Framework 2.0, Windows 7 – .NET 3.5 and Windows 8 – .NET 4.5