C# Guide

3 minutes to read

The C# guide provides a wealth of information about the C# language. This site has many different audiences. Depending on your experience with programming, or with the C# language and .NET, you may wish to explore different sections of this guide.

  • For brand-new developers:

    • Start with our Quick starts section. These let you explore the C# language interactively in your browser. From there, you can move on to our tutorials section. These tutorials show you how to create C# programs from scratch. The tutorials provide a step-by-step process to create programs. You'll learn the language concepts, and how to build C# programs on your own. If you prefer reading overview information first, try our tour of the C# language. It explains the concepts of the C# language. After reading this, you'll have a basic understanding of the language, and be ready to try the tutorials, or build something on your own.

  • For developers new to C#:

    • If you've done development before, but are new to C#, read the tour of the C# language. You will learn the basic syntax and structure for the language, and you can use the language tour to contrast C# with other languages you've used. You can also browse the tutorials to try basic C# programs.

  • Experienced C# developers:

    • If you've used C# before, you should start by reading what's in the latest version of the language. Check out What's new in C# for the new features in the current version.

How the C# guide is organized

There are several sections in the C# Guide. You can read them in order, or jump directly to what interests you the most. Some of the sections are heavily focused on the language. Others provide end-to-end scenarios that demonstrate a few of the types of programs you can create using C# and the .NET Framework.

  • Getting Started:

    • This section covers what you need to install for a C# development environment on your preferred platform. The different topics under this section explain how to create your first C# program in different supported environments.

  • Tutorials:

    • This section provides a variety of end to end scenarios, including descriptions and code. You'll learn why certain idioms are preferred, what C# features work best in different situations, and see reference implementations for common tasks. If you learn best by seeing code, start in this section. You can also download all the code and experiment in your own environment.

  • A Tour of C#:

    • This section provides an overview of the language. You'll learn the elements that make up C# programs and the capabilities of the language. You'll see small samples of all the syntax elements of C# and discussions of the major C# language topics.

  • Latest Features:

    • Learn about new features in the language. Learn about new tools like C# Interactive (C#'s REPL), and the .NET Compiler Platform SDK. You'll learn how the language is evolving. You'll see how the new tools can make you more productive in exploring the language, and automating tasks.

  • Using the Visual Studio Development Environment for C#

    • Introduces the Visual C# development environment.

  • C# Programming Guide

    • Provides information and practical examples about how to use C# language constructs.

  • C# Samples

    • MSDN Code Gallery filtered for C#.

  • Walkthroughs

    • Provides links to programming walkthroughs that use C# and a brief description of each walkthrough.

  • Language Reference:

    • This section contains the reference material on the C# language. This material will help you understand the syntax and semantics of C#. It also includes reference material on types, operators, attributes, preprocessor directives, compiler switches, compiler errors, and compiler warnings.

  • C# Language Specification

    • Links to the latest version of the C# Specifications in Microsoft Word format.

See Also

Getting Started with Visual C# and Visual Basic
.NET Development