Outline of the C sharp programming language

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to C#:

C# (pronounced “C-sharp”) is a free and open-source multi-paradigm programming language developed by Microsoft as part of its .NET initiative. C# was designed by Anders Hejlsberg and first appeared in 2000 with the release of .NET Framework. The language emphasizes type safety, component-oriented programming, and modern object-oriented programming concepts. C# syntax is similar to C++ and Java, but is tightly integrated with the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) environment.^[1]^[2]^[3]

What type of language is C#?

Programming language – artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a computer
Compiled language – compiled to Common Intermediate Language and executed by the Common Language Runtime
General-purpose programming language
Imperative programming – paradigm using statements that change program state, focusing on how to perform computation.
Functional programming – treating computation as evaluation of functions, avoiding mutable state, focusing on what to compute.
Component-oriented programming – reusable components with well-defined interfaces for modularity and code reuse.
Statically typed programming language – type checking performed at compile time
Managed code – runs in a virtual machine (VM) environment, the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR), that handles memory management via garbage collection
Object-oriented programming language

History of C#

Anders Hejlsberg – lead architect and creator of C#
Microsoft – developer and maintainer of C#
2000 – C# first appeared as part of .NET Framework development^[4]
2002 – C# 1.0 released with Visual Studio .NET
2007 – C# 3.0 added LINQ, lambda expressions, and extension methods
2012 – C# 5.0 added async and await and caller info attributes
2015 – C# 6.0 added expression-bodied members, string interpolation, and Roslyn.
2014 – .NET Core introduced as an open-source and cross-platform implementation
2020 – .NET 5 unified .NET Framework and .NET Core
2024 – C# 13 added params collections and partial properties^[5]

Issues, limits

Garbage collection overhead^[40]
Platform dependencies^[41]

C# toolchain

Compilers

Roslyn – open-source compiler platform for C# and VB.NET
Mono – cross-platform implementation of C# and .NET
Bartok – experimental AOT compiler by Microsoft Research
CoreRT – .NET Foundation project for AOT and JIT compilation
IL2CPU – AOT compiler used by the COSMOS operating system
RemObjects C# – AOT compiler supporting multiple platforms
RyuJIT – JIT compiler used in .NET Core and .NET 5+
SharpDevelop – open-source IDE and C# compiler under LGPL
Visual C# – Microsoft’s primary JIT compiler for C#
Visual C# Express – freeware edition of Visual C# for beginners
Portable.NET – discontinued AOT compiler from the DotGNU project

Build and package management

MSBuild – Microsoft’s official build engine
NuGet – official .NET package manager and registry
dotnet CLI – command-line interface for building, running, and publishing C# applications.^[42]

C# libraries and frameworks

.NET Standard – specification ensuring API compatibility across .NET implementations
ASP.NET Core – framework for building web applications and APIs
Entity Framework Core – object-relational mapper (ORM)
Xamarin – framework for building cross-platform mobile applications
Blazor – framework for building interactive web UIs with C#
Unity – game engine using C# as its primary scripting language

Testing and benchmarking

xUnit – popular open-source testing framework
NUnit – testing framework for .NET
MSTest – Microsoft’s built-in test framework
BenchmarkDotNet – library for performance benchmarking in C#^[43]

Notable projects written in C#

Example source code

Articles with example C# code

C# publications

Books about C#

Andrew Troelsen – Pro C# and the .NET Platform
Bill Wagner – Effective C#
Herbert Schildt – C#: A Beginner's Guide and C# 4.0: The Complete Reference
Jeff Prosise – Programming Microsoft .NET
Jeffrey Richter – CLR via C#
Jennifer Greene – Head First C#
Jon Skeet – C# in Depth
Mark J. Price – C# 12 and .NET 8 – Modern Cross-Platform Development
Rob Miles – The C# Programming Yellow Book^[44]

C# dialects and related languages

Visual Basic .NET – shares the same runtime and type system
F# – functional-first language on the .NET platform
PowerShell – built on .NET and C#
Q# – quantum programming language from Microsoft influenced by C#

C# learning resources

Competitive programming

LeetCode – supports C# submissions
HackerRank – includes C# challenges
Codeforces – supports C# in contests

References

↑ "C# Guide – .NET managed language". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/csharp-programming-language-introduction/ ^{[permanent dead link]}
↑ "C# – a modern, open-source programming language – .NET". Microsoft.
↑ "Introduction – C# language specification". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "The history of C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Assemblies in .NET – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Attributes – C# language specification". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Async and Await in C#". GeeksforGeeks. August 1, 2022.
↑ "Asynchronous programming – C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Classes and objects tutorial – C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Collections – C# reference". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Work with delegate types in C# – C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Encapsulation in C#". GeeksforGeeks. October 15, 2018.
↑ "Events – C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Exception Handling – C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ ".NET garbage collection – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Garbage Collection in C# | .NET Framework". GeeksforGeeks. April 17, 2019.
↑ "C# generics (With Examples)". www.programiz.com.
↑ "Generic classes and methods – C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Tutorial: Introduction to Inheritance – C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Interfaces – define behavior for multiple types – C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Lambda Expressions in C#". GeeksforGeeks. September 20, 2019.
↑ "Language Integrated Query (LINQ) – C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "C# Memory Management". GeeksforGeeks. September 19, 2025.
↑ "Memory management and patterns in ASP.NET Core". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Namespaces – C# language specification". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Nullable reference types – C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Operator overloading – Define unary, arithmetic, equality, and comparison operators. – C# reference". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Pattern matching overview – C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Properties – C#". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Records – C# reference". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Reflection in .NET". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Serialization – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Structs – C# language specification". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Using threads and threading – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Task-based asynchronous programming – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ Chand, Mahesh. "Type Inference in C#". www.c-sharpcorner.com.
↑ Kumar, Ravi Ranjan. "A Basic Introduction To C# Unit Test For Beginners". www.c-sharpcorner.com.
↑ "Reference types – C# reference". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Garbage Collection and Performance – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Dependency loading – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ ".NET CLI". learn.microsoft.com.
↑ "Home | BenchmarkDotNet". benchmarkdotnet.org.
↑ "Top C# Books recommended by experts – MentorCruise". mentorcruise.com.

External links

[1] "C# Guide – .NET managed language". learn.microsoft.com.

[2] ttps://www.geeksforgeeks.org/csharp-programming-language-introduction/ ^{[permanent dead link]}

[3] "C# – a modern, open-source programming language – .NET". Microsoft.

[4] "Introduction – C# language specification". learn.microsoft.com.

[5] "The history of C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[6] "Assemblies in .NET – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.

[7] "Attributes – C# language specification". learn.microsoft.com.

[8] "Async and Await in C#". GeeksforGeeks. August 1, 2022.

[9] "Asynchronous programming – C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[10] "Classes and objects tutorial – C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[11] "Collections – C# reference". learn.microsoft.com.

[12] "Work with delegate types in C# – C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[13] "Encapsulation in C#". GeeksforGeeks. October 15, 2018.

[14] "Events – C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[15] "Exception Handling – C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[16] ".NET garbage collection – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.

[17] "Garbage Collection in C# | .NET Framework". GeeksforGeeks. April 17, 2019.

[18] "C# generics (With Examples)". www.programiz.com.

[19] "Generic classes and methods – C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[20] "Tutorial: Introduction to Inheritance – C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[21] "Interfaces – define behavior for multiple types – C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[22] "Lambda Expressions in C#". GeeksforGeeks. September 20, 2019.

[23] "Language Integrated Query (LINQ) – C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[24] "C# Memory Management". GeeksforGeeks. September 19, 2025.

[25] "Memory management and patterns in ASP.NET Core". learn.microsoft.com.

[26] "Namespaces – C# language specification". learn.microsoft.com.

[27] "Nullable reference types – C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[28] "Operator overloading – Define unary, arithmetic, equality, and comparison operators. – C# reference". learn.microsoft.com.

[29] "Pattern matching overview – C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[30] "Properties – C#". learn.microsoft.com.

[31] "Records – C# reference". learn.microsoft.com.

[32] "Reflection in .NET". learn.microsoft.com.

[33] "Serialization – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.

[34] "Structs – C# language specification". learn.microsoft.com.

[35] "Using threads and threading – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.

[36] "Task-based asynchronous programming – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.

[37] Chand, Mahesh. "Type Inference in C#". www.c-sharpcorner.com.

[38] Kumar, Ravi Ranjan. "A Basic Introduction To C# Unit Test For Beginners". www.c-sharpcorner.com.

[39] "Reference types – C# reference". learn.microsoft.com.

[40] "Garbage Collection and Performance – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.

[41] "Dependency loading – .NET". learn.microsoft.com.

[42] ".NET CLI". learn.microsoft.com.

[43] "Home | BenchmarkDotNet". benchmarkdotnet.org.

[44] "Top C# Books recommended by experts – MentorCruise". mentorcruise.com.

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v t e C#
Compilers and runtimes	Roslyn Mono .NET Framework .NET Core
IDEs and editors	Visual Studio Visual Studio Code JetBrains Rider MonoDevelop SharpDevelop Eclipse IDE IntelliJ IDEA Emacs Vim
Libraries and frameworks	Entity Framework Windows Presentation Foundation Windows Forms ASP.NET Core Blazor Xamarin.Forms ML.NET Unity
Debugging and profiling	Visual Studio Debugger dotTrace dotMemory WinDbg PerfView
Build and package tools	MSBuild NuGet
Testing and analysis	xUnit.net NUnit MSTest SpecFlow ReSharper SonarQube
Parallel and concurrency tools	Task Parallel Library Parallel LINQ Reactive Extensions
See also	List of Visual Basic .NET software and tools File and stream I/O in C Sharp
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