Author(s:) Yu Pei, Henry
Reviewers: Chester Sng, Lin Si Jie
C# is a general purpose, multi-paradigm, garbage collected, cross-platform language by Microsoft, and part of the .NET platform. Some claim C# is Microsoft's answer to Java due to the fact that the two languages have a lot of similarities.
Given below are brief explanations of the key characteristics of C# mentioned above.
General purpose:
In computer software, a general-purpose programming language is a programming language designed to be used for writing software in the widest variety of application domains (a general-purpose language). A general-purpose programming language has this status because it does not include language constructs designed to be used within a specific application domain.
--(source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General-purpose_programming_language))
Multi-paradigm: Programing Paradigms are used to describe Programming Languages based on their features. Some commonly referred paradigms are Object-Oriented Programming (which primarily organizes code into objects that contain a state) and Functional Programming (where code represents a sequence of stateless functions.) C# supports both Object-Oriented and Functional Programming, and many others that can be found here.
Garbage Collected: The intialization, storage and handling of variables require memory. Garbage Collection is a form of automatic memory management, where memory that is no longer referenced by the program will be deallocated. You may read more about Garbage Collection.
Cross-Platform: Cross-Platform software is software that can be run across multiple platforms, which may require recompilation depending on the software. Common platforms include Windows, MacOS and Linux, and for mobile platforms Android and iOS. The benefits of writing Cross-Platform software is that developers will only need to primarily maintain 1 code base and be able to deploy to multiple platforms.
Below is an example of of a simple C# program:
//Comments can be marked with // or /**/
//Namespaces are similar to packages, except the file does not need to be physically in the directory
using ProjectName.Utils;
namespace ProjectName.Model
{
//Subclassing BaseClass
class MyClass : BaseClass {
...
//Method declaration
public static void Main(String[] args) {
//Variable definition
string message = "Hello World!";
Console.WriteLine(message);
}
}
}
Developers that work with C# commonly use Visual Studio as their IDE and also as a build tool for compilation into common application/library formats, such as .exe or .dll. Using Visual Studio for C# development offers great convenience as it has an integrated testing framework, MSTest.
This section covers some noteworthy features of C# syntax (some of them are found in other languages such as Java and Swift).
In C#, you can construct an Object, Array or Collection in a single statement as shown. This can be useful when writing tests, as test data will be better organised, as compared to calling the actual constructor.
public BookShelf(Book[] books, param2, param3, param4)
{
this.books = books
// Do something with param 2, 3, 4
}
// Without use of Object Initializer
BookShelf shelf1 = new BookShelf(books, param2, param3, param4)
// With use of Object Initializer
BookShelf shelf2 = new BookShelf() {
books = { book1, book2 };
};
In the above example, we want to test a BookShelf's behaviors only related to the Book[] array. Instead of having to unnecessarily use param2, 3, 4 in construction, we can initialize a BookShelf only with the Book[] that we wanted to use.
Sometimes, it may be useful to defer execution or capture a local context for later execution. Context capturing is reflected below:
//Capturing local context
public class Context
{
//GetCounter returns a nullary (0 argument) function. The function returns an integer when executed.
public static Func<Int> GetCounter()
{
//Inside the context of this function, there is an integer variable count.
int count = 0;
//GetCounter is returning a function.
return () =>
{
//The function increments the count variable inside this context, which is initialized to 0.
count++;
//It then returns the current count value.
return count;
}
}
}
Func<Int> counter = Context.GetCounter();
//Every time the function is called, the variable count in the captured context would increment by 1, and its new value will be returned.
counter(); //Returns 1
counter(); //Returns 2
The ability to capture the value count outside of the defined function scope that returns count, is called a closure. If you wish to read more about closures, you may consult this article by dixin
Normally to guard against null pointers, an if branch or a guard clause that checks against null is used. Below is a code example of conventional null pointer handling.
public static Car ManufactureCar() {
return (hasError) ? null : new Car(param1, param2);
}
public void AddFuelTank() {
fuelTank = (hasError) ? null : new FuelTank(param3);
}
Car car = Car.ManufactureCar();
Double fuelLeft = 0;
if (car != null)
{
car.AddFuelTank();
fuelTank = car.GetFuelTank()
if (fuelTank != null) {
fuelLeft = fuelTank.GetFuel();
}
}
DoSomethingTo(fuelLeft);
In C#, null handling does not need to be done the conventional way. C# has Nullable features, such as collaescing operators ?? and null conditional operators .?. Some may find this similar to optionals in Swift. Applying these features appropriately not only results in shorter and more concise code in general. It makes it easier to reduce the use of indentation as well. Nullables may appear less intuitive to new users, so its value may differ between communities.
public static Car ManufactureCar() {
return (hasError) ? null : new Car(param1, param2);
}
public void AddFuelTank() {
fuelTank = (hasError) ? null : new FuelTank(param3);
}
Car car = Car.ManufactureCar();
//Call Drive method of car if not null
car?.AddFuelTank();
//Get amount of fuel left with default value 0
Double fuelLeft = car?.GetFuelTank()?.GetFuel() ?? 0;
DoSomethingTo(fuelLeft);
Some explanation of what Double fuelLeft = car?.GetFuel() ?? 0 does:
car.GetFuel().car?.GetFuel() evaluates to null.?? operator sees null, so the entire expression defaults to 0. If ?? sees a non-null value, the default value is not used.More can be read about Nullables here
The list of features in C# can be quite long. This article only shows you selected features for their usefulness and ability to represent code more concisely. Some features that were not listed are Async/Await and Default Interface Implementation. If you wish to explore other features, you may consult this article and others online.
C# is high in demand (as per source1, source 2). It is especially well-suited for Windows apps. It also thrives in game programming because the popualr game engine Unity has great cross-platform compatibility for desktop, web, mobile and console, and has extensive support for 2D/3D games, VR/AR games and games that require networking. C# can even be used on non-Windows environments as the .NET framework has cross platform support via the Mono project.
Getting started with C# is not difficult. You can download Visual Studio and follow the setup instructions for C# programming here. If you are new to C# but have some familiarity with Java, you may follow the tutorial at Sololearn. It is a rather comprehensive tutorial that teaches fundamental syntax and concepts in C#. If you feel that certain parts of the tutorial are too simple, you can also skip them.
If you are entirely new to programming, you may find more hands on practice with simpler steps at CSharp net. This tutorial tends to be more rigorous and goes through in great detail the steps, starting from installing a development environment, to writing basic C# programs and finally topics commonly used in real applications, such as file handling and debugging. If you wish to skip certain parts of the tutorial, the structured contents are displayed on the right side of the website.
If you want to have a go at maintaining and enhancing a small project, you may find this fictitious airline reservation system project to be a good starting point. It covers commonly used components of a software, such as UI (Application User Interface), data storage and handling, and the logic behind the program (such as buying a ticket). More similar projects can be found at 1000projects.org.
If you feel that you have a grasp of C# fundamentals but find it difficult to write programs of bigger scale, you may consult CSharp corner for a list of design patterns that you may employ to better organise and plan your program structure. Sometimes, you may find that you have problems collaborating on a C# project. This may be due to some common misconceptions and mistakes you are commiting without realisation. You may reduce these problems by reading about some common mistakes in C# programming.
If you want to develop a desktop application for Windows, you may consult Microsoft's documentation on creating an application with the Windows Presentation Foundation, a framework that is commonly used for creating UI for Windows Applications that has many useful features for building your UI.