by Jini M R (Software Programmer, Excellone Technologies)

C# (Pronounced C Sharp), an object oriented programming language was introduced by Microsoft in June 2000. The software developers who are familiar with C# programming can quickly construct a whole range of applications for the new Microsoft.NET development environment. It is a part of the .NET suite which facilitates tools and services that fully exploit both computing and communications.

The characteristics of C#:

• Elegant object oriented design: The concurrence with these golden principles of object orientation, encapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism, has made C# programming a great choice for architecting a wide range of components from high-level business objects to system – level software applications. The C# programming language constructs converts these components into XML Web services, which permits them to be invoked across the Internet, from any language running on any operating system.
• Safety and Productivity: In C#, the unsafe code must be explicitly declared with the modifier as ‘unsafe’ to prevent accident features. Moreover, the compiler and execution engine works hand in hand to ensure that the unsafe code is not executed in an unreliable environment.
• Name spaces: C# does its job in a hierarchical name space model. Namespaces are C# program elements which help to organize programs. Objects are grouped into name spaces and a particular namespace has to be included in a software program to access the classes and objects within it.
• Security: In C#, unsafe codes must be explicitly declared unsafe by the modifier to prevent accident features. Moreover the compiler and execution engine work hand in hand and ensure that an unsafe code is not executed in an unreliable environment.
• Garbage collection: The memory management feature leads all managed objects. Garbage collection is a feature of .NET that C# uses during runtime.
• Data types: This is a regulatory type language set rules to maintain the integrity of data stored in it. Three types of data types include value types, reference types, boxing and unboxing. There are also simple types namely integral type, Boolean type, char type, floating- point type, decimal type, structure type, and enumeration type.
• Versioning: C# programming supports this versioning. . NET solves the versioning problem and enables the software developer to specify version dependencies between different pieces of software.
• Indexes: C# has indexes which help to access value in a class with an array like syntax.
• Exception handling: . NET standardizes the exception handling across languages. C# offers the conditional keyword to control the flaw and make the code more readable.
• Error Elimination: C# programming eliminates costly software programming errors, through garbage collection which are automatically initialized by the environment type safe variables. C# makes it simple for the software developer to write and maintain programs that give solutions for complex business problems.
• Flexibility & Power: C# has the flexibility which permits typed, extensible metadata that can be applied to any object. A project architect can define domain-specific attributes and apply them to any language, element, classes, interfaces and so on.
• Extensive inter-operability: Almost all enterprise software applications can be managed easily by type-safe environment. This extensive inter-operability makes C# the obvious choice for most of the software developers.

To conclude, the inference is that C# programming is a sophisticated language for the sophisticated world, which is productive, object oriented and lessens development, while keeping in pace with the programming heritage of C++. This brand new language facilitates programmers to develop, fast and easy solutions for .NET development environment. And it does it all by considerably reducing the increased development costs, providing flexibility and productivity.