C# is a general purpose, modern and object – oriented programming Language Pronounced as “C sharp”.It was developed by Microsoft within the .NET initiative led by Anders Hejlsberg.
The following reasons make C# a widely used professional language –
- It is a modern, general – purpose programming language
- It is object oriented.
- It is component oriented.
- It is easy to learn.
- It is a part of .Net Framework.
The .Net Framework
The .Net Framework is a revolutionary platform that helps you to write the following types of applications –
- Windows applications
- Web applications
- Web services
The .Net framework applications are multi- platform applications.The framework has been designed in such a way that it can be used from any of the following languages: C#, C++, Visual Basic, Jscript, COBOL , etc. All these languages can access the framework as well as communicate with each other.
C# Program Structure
C# Program Structure so that we can take it as a reference in upcoming chapters.
Creating Hello World Program
A C# program consists of the following parts –
- Namespace declaration
- A class
- Class methods
- Class attributes
- A main methods
- Statements and Expressions
- Comments
Let us look at a simple code that prints the words “Hello World ” –
using system;
Namespace HelloWorldApplication
{
class HelloWorld
{
static void main(string [] args)
{
/* My first program in C# */
Console.WriteLine(“Hello world”);
Console.Readkey();
}
}
}
Look at the various part of the given program –
- The first line of the program using system ;- The using keyword is used to include the system namespace in the program. A program generally has multiple using statements.
- The next Line has the namespace declaration. A namespace is a collection of classes . The HelloWorldApplication namespace contains the class Helloworld.
- The next line has a class declaration, the class Helloworld contains the data and method definitions that your program uses. Classes generally contain multiple methods define the behavior of the class.However , the Helloworld class has only one method Main.
- The next line defines the main method, which is the entry point for all C# programs. The Main method states what the class does when executed.
- The next line /*……*/ is ignored by the compiler and it is put to add comments in the program.
- The Main method specifies its behavior with the statement Console.WriteLine(“Hello World”). This statement causes the message “Hello world!” to be displayed on the screen.
- The last line Console.ReadKey(); is for the VS.NET users. This makes the program wait for a key press and it prevents the screen from running and closing quickly when the program is launched from Visual Studio.NET.