Chapter 2: C Basics

Overview

Now that you understand a little more about what C# can do, you will want to learn how to use it. This chapter on the basics of C# gives you a good start in that direction by providing you with a basic knowledge of the fundamentals of C# programming, which we build on in subsequent chapters. The main topics we cover are:

• Declaring variables

• Initialization and scope of variables

• Predefined C# data types

• Dictating the flow of execution within a C# program using loops and conditional statements

• Enumerations

• Namespaces

• The Main() method

• Basic command-line C# compiler options

• Using System.Console to perform console I/O

• Using documentation features in C# and Visual Studio .NET

• C# identifiers and keywords

• Recommended guidelines and conventions for good programming in C#

By the end of this chapter, you will know enough C# to write simple programs, though without using inheritance or other object-oriented features, which are covered in the following chapters.