C#

The advancement of programming tools and consumer-electronic devices (e.g., cell phones and PDAs) created problems and new requirements. The integration of software components from various languages proved difficult, and installation problems were common because new versions of shared components were incompatible with old software. Developers also discovered they needed Web-based applications that could be accessed and used via the Internet. As a result of the popularity of mobile electronic devices, software developers realized that their clients were no longer restricted to desktop computers. Developers recognized the need for software that was accessible to anyone and available via almost any type of device. To address these needs, in 2000, Microsoft announced the C# programming language. C#, developed at Microsoft by a team led by Anders Hejlsberg and Scott Wiltamuth, was designed specifically for the .NET platform (which is discussed in Section 1.14) as a language that would enable programmers to migrate easily to .NET. It has roots in C, C++ and Java, adapting the best features of each and adding new features of its own. C# is object oriented and contains a powerful class library of prebuilt components, enabling programmers to develop applications quicklyC# and Visual Basic share the Framework Class Library (FCL), which is discussed in Section 1.14. C# is appropriate for demanding application development tasks, especially for building today's popular Web-based applications.

The .NET platform is one over which Web-based applications can be distributed to a great variety of devices (even cell phones) and to desktop computers. The platform offers a new software-development model that allows applications created in disparate programming languages to communicate with each other.

C# is an event-driven, visual programming language in which programs are created using an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). With the IDE, a programmer can create, run, test and debug C# programs conveniently, thereby reducing the time it takes to produce a working program to a fraction of the time it would have taken without using the IDE. The .NET platform enables language interoperability: Software components from different languages can interact as never before. Developers can package even old software to work with new C# programs. Also, C# applications can interact via the Internet, using industry standards such as XML, which we discuss in Chapter 19, and the XML-based Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), which we discuss in Chapter 22, Web Services.

The original C# programming language was standardized by Ecma International (www.ecma-international.org) in December, 2002 as Standard ECMA-334: C# Language Specification (located at www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-334.htm). Since that time, Microsoft proposed several language extensions that have been adopted as part of the revised Ecma C# standard. Microsoft refers to the complete C# language (including the adopted extensions) as C# 2.0.

[Note: Throughout this book, we provide references to specific sections of the C# Language Specification. We use the section numbers specified in Microsoft's version of the specification, which is composed of two documentsthe C# Language Specification 1.2 and the C# Language Specification 2.0 (an extension of the 1.2 document that contains the C# 2.0 language enhancements). Both documents are located at: msdn.microsoft.com/vcsharp/programming/language/.]