Learning C#

Learning C#

Let's enumerate several important topics to learn C# language.

I created these articles to break down C# into small, manageable pieces. You'll learn one concept at a time, which will make the learning process more effective. You'll need to put in some effort, but if you read each article carefully, understand the explanations, and practice writing code, you'll have a firm grasp of C# by the end of the series. You'll be well on your way to becoming a proficient C# developer.


Course Benefits

This series of articles is specially designed for beginners. We are assuming you as a reader have no prior programming experience, and C# will be your first programming language:

  1. The articles will start from the very basics of programming and cover fundamental concepts like variables, data types, conditional statements, loops, functions, classes, etc. This foundational knowledge is important for learning any programming language.

  2. The articles will avoid jargon and acronyms as much as possible, explaining all terms thoroughly. This makes the content accessible to beginners who are not familiar with common programming terminology yet.

  3. The examples and exercises will gradually increase in complexity to build the reader's skills over time. The progression from simple to more challenging topics helps beginners learn effectively.

  4. The articles will provide additional context around why certain concepts are important and how they relate to real-world programming. This big-picture perspective can help beginners develop an intuitive understanding.

  5. The series will cover not just the C# syntax, but also fundamental programming concepts that apply broadly. This equips readers with transferable knowledge that can help them learn additional programming languages in the future.

  6. There will be frequent summaries and recaps to solidify the reader's knowledge and highlight the main takeaways from each article. This repetition can aid the learning process for beginners.

In summary, the series is tailored specifically for readers with no prior experience by breaking down programming concepts into bite-sized, digestible pieces and building up knowledge in a structured progression. The thorough explanations, context and perspective aim to give beginners a solid foundation in not just C#, but programming as a whole.


Beginner Topics

Here are the basics of C# programming language:

  1. Data types - C# supports basic data types like int, float, double, char, bool etc. It also has reference types like strings and arrays.

  2. Variables - Variables are used to store values in memory. C# has various types of variables - local variables, instance variables, static variables, constant variables etc.

  3. Operators - C# supports arithmetic, assignment, comparison, logical, bitwise operators etc.

  4. Conditional statements - if, if-else, switch case statements are used to execute code based on conditions.

  5. Loops - C# supports for, while, do-while, foreach loops to iterate over a block of code.

  6. Functions - Functions are reusable blocks of code that perform some specific task. They improve code reusability and modularity.

  7. Classes and Objects - C# is an object-oriented language. Classes define the properties and behaviors of an object. Objects are instances of classes.

  8. Arrays - Arrays are used to store multiple values of the same data type. C# supports one-dimensional, multi-dimensional arrays and jagged arrays.

  9. Inheritance - Inheritance allows one class to acquire properties of another class. It represents an IS-A relationship.

  10. Namespaces - Namespaces are used to logically organize C# code and avoid naming conflicts.


Advanced Topics

Here are some advanced topics in C# that readers can learn after mastering the basics:

  1. LINQ (Language Integrated Query) - This allows querying collections of data using SQL-like syntax. LINQ to Objects, LINQ to XML and LINQ to Entities are some of the variants.

  2. Generics - Allows defining types that contain other types as parameters. This adds flexibility and reusability to your code.

  3. Multithreading - The ability to execute multiple threads concurrently. This allows the utilization of multiple CPU cores for performance gains.

  4. Asynchronous Programming - Using async and await keywords to run operations concurrently without blocking the main thread.

  5. Entity Framework - An ORM (Object Relational Mapping) framework that allows interaction with databases in an object-oriented way.

  6. WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) - A framework for building rich desktop applications with XAML and data binding.

  7. Windows Communication Foundation - A framework for building service-oriented applications. Allows exposing .NET objects as web services.

  8. Reflection - The ability to inspect types and members at runtime. This provides a high degree of programmability.

  9. Attributes - Special classes that can modify the behavior of code elements like classes, methods and properties.

  10. Delegates and Lambdas - Delegates allow passing methods as arguments. Lambdas provide a more concise syntax for creating delegates.


Foundation Concepts

Many other fundamental concepts are important for beginner programmers beyond just what I listed previously. Here are some additional concepts you should have learned in school.

• Logic - The use of logical operators like AND, OR and NOT. Explaining Boolean logic and truth tables helps beginners understand how conditions and decisions work in programming.

• Set theory - Concepts like sets, subsets, unions and intersections. Understanding sets and how to manipulate them is foundational for programming.

• Binary system - The base-2 number system that computers use internally. Explaining binary, hexadecimal and converting between number systems builds number sense for programming.

• Numeric literals - How different types of numbers like integers, floats and doubles are represented in the language. Readers need to understand numeric literals to work with different number types.

• ASCII and Unicode - Character encoding standards that associate numbers to letters, symbols and glyphs. Beginners need to understand how text is represented to work with strings.

• Programming paradigms - Explaining the differences between imperative, object-oriented, functional and logical paradigms provides useful context for beginners.

• Linear algebra - Concepts like vectors, matrices and determinants. While not essential, linear algebra can help work with data structures, graphics and AI/ML.

In conclusion: many foundational concepts are important to cover before delving into a programming language's syntax. If you do not know these concepts I advise you to follow my Software Engineering course first. This course is on my homepage and is free to take until 2025. You have an entire year of study ahead of you.

However, you can try to learn C# syntax by reading this blog series, and whenever you find a concept that you do not understand, you can comment on my blog article and if you do, I will find the answer for you.


Visit my homepage and join Discord for 101 mentoring: https://sagecode.net