Chapter 2 - Introducing C#

Abstract

The C# language is expressive in implementing all the features of a modern object-oriented programming language. It provides support for encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism, the three pillars of object-oriented programming. At its core, C# has about 80 keywords and a dozen built-in data types. It includes language features, such as single inheritance, multiple interfaces, and compilation to an intermediate format. It is designed with the Internet and component architecture in mind, making it the ideal language to use with .NET. This chapter discusses the new C# programming language in every detail. It introduces the basic language features and discusses many similarities and differences of it with Java. Both C# and Java language are derived from C++. However, C# is broader than Java in what its designers chose to derive from C++, while offering new features of its own. C# methods are nonvirtual by default and must be explicitly declared as virtual to be overridden. In Java, all methods are virtual by default and can be overridden by a derived class. C# provides some versioning control for the language by preventing accidental overriding of a method. This chapter also covers installing and using the tools one needs to program the very first C# application.