C# — programming languages in a nutshell

18 October 2021

 

C# language of the future?

It is by far the youngest of the available programming languages. It’s fully object-oriented and based on C and C++. It combined the performance with the mechanisms operating in the Java and Delphi environment. It was created by Microsoft, and appeared on the market in 2000 as an alpha version. The work on it was done by a whole team of programmers. It’s based primarily on C++ or Java, and it was found that it’s easy to learn. It has many premade solutions that facilitate the coding itself, but also shorten the time of writing it. At the same time, it is a general-purpose language that is closely related to the .NET Framework. It’s ultimately used to create various applications that are opened using this program.

C# language is compiled into CIL, that is, intermediate code, and this one is run in the .NET Framework, Mono or DotGNU environment. There is a very extensive BCL library in C #. It’s allows the development of various applications such as network, window, database and console applications, which is a great help for the programmer. Additionally, armed with .NET libraries, it enables dynamic code creation while the program is running and automatically incorporating it into the code being executed at the moment. Thanks to the ability to analyse the code, the programmer can create universal mechanisms based on the code structure unknown at the time of compilation.

 

Let’s get to know C# more

To keep improving the language, new extensions are constantly being made, and different versions of C#. The latest option 9.0 was released at the end of 2020. The Unity engine is constantly being improved and expanded, so it’s a great choice for game developers. Undoubtedly, the advantage is that you can write software for Virtual Reality (VR) platforms, and this technology is becoming more and more popular. Currently, the Unity website publishes data that 90% of VR games on Samsung Gear and 53% on Oculus Rift in Unity. C# is a high-level language, which means it’s safe to say that it’s written more for humans than for computers. Some trainers say it’s the most readable programming language.

A characteristic feature is that it is closely related to the .NET platform, also supported and extended by Microsoft. Let us explain that C# is a programming language and .NET is a collection of libraries and functions that are used with C #. In practice, this means that it is rare to use C# alone, which is why it is most often found bundled with .NET. Until recently, this link was considered the biggest disadvantage, as it was possible to create programs that only ran on Windows. If a company uses an accounting application or a reporting program, it was probably created in C#.

Engines such as the previously mentioned Unity or Unreal Engine also strongly support C#, and some of the popular games written in this language are Terraria or some fragments of Doom. Another use of C# is web development and writing code for a web structure.

 

Learning C#

There are many paths you can choose to learn C# such as online courses and university programs. One of the best ways to learn is through materials that can be found on the Microsoft website. At first, learning looks very similar to other languages. ​​The syntax of the basic elements is almost identical. Understand the basics of loops, exceptions, conditions, and so on. It is important to master the objectivity of the language. In fact, it causes a lot of problems initially, but it is similar in other languages, such as Java or Python. So, if you understand object-oriented programming and are good at navigating code, most popular languages ​​won’t be a problem at the entry level.

 

Advantages of this language

The biggest advantage is the Visual Studio environment. It is a huge, massive environment, so you should get a good, powerful computer, but the programmer will find a lot of help in it. The Roslyn compiler introduced in Visual Studio 2015 works well for the beginner coder, because it allows you to run code sequences without running the entire program, and you can check how an element works with two clicks.

Any developer who knows C# will have no trouble finding a job. Testers are also in demand in the market. The ability to create unit tests will also find interest among employers. When testing applications, it is worth knowing the basics, so that you can easily configure it and run it in a development environment. The ideal way to do this is to create small applications that help with testing. It can be something like: an application that creates and copies data files that are needed for testing.

Summing up. C# and the entire .NET platform are a typical corpo technology in which large, complex systems are created. Using the free application development ecosystem in C# (Xamarin), more and more mobile applications running on Android, Windows 10 or iOS are created.

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