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Q1: What is Visual C# .NET?
Visual C# .NET provides developers with a modern, component-oriented language with which they can quickly construct compelling, data-driven solutions. With rapid design, development, and deployment support for XML Web services, high-performance data-driven solutions, and server-side visual designers, Visual C# .NET delivers superior functionality for streamlining business processes.
Visual C# .NET enables developers to build solutions for the broadest range of clients, including Web applications, Windows® Forms-based applications, and thin- and smart-client devices. And, with an elegant, modern programming language, C# developers can leverage their existing C++ and Java skills and knowledge to be successful in the .NET development environment.
Q2: What's new in Visual C# .NET 2003?
Visual C# .NET 2003 sports several minor improvements to the integrated development environment (IDE) that will help you write code faster and with fewer errors:
1) NATIVE DEVICE DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT: support for more than 150 mobile Web devices including mobile phones, pagers, and PDAs. The version of Visual C# .NET for professional developers, called Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional Edition, simplifies smart device application development with native support for the .NET Compact Framework.
2) IMPROVED INTELLISENSE FOR INTERFACES AND BASE CLASSES: includes automatic interface and base class expansion. Simply inherit from an interface or a base class, and the code editor will prompt you with a ToolTip to automatically stub out abstract methods of the class and methods of the interface.
3) IMPROVED INTELLISENSE FOR DELEGATES AND EVENTS: provides ToolTip assistance to help you hook functions to delegates and events.
4) IMPROVED INTELLISENSE FOR STATEMENT COMPLETION: lists the 'most frequently used' items in the statement completion window.
5) BETTER DEBUGGER VISUALIZATIONS: The C# debugger now shows collection classes and other complex data types in a more usable, visual manner.
6) CUSTOM BUILD STEPS: Programmers may now customize how their application compiles and builds for faster development and reduced build cycles.
Q3: What's new in the C# language in 2003?
The C# language has been updated to fully support the ECMA C# Language Specification. While it was certainly our goal to be fully compliant in the 2002 release, the reality of schedules related to the standardization process and the release process of the Visual Studio .NET 2002 product worked against us. However, in the 2003 edition of the Visual Studio family of products the C# language is fully compliant with the ECMA specification.
Q4: What are the differences between Visual C# .NET Std Edition and Visual Studio .NET Pro Edition?
Visual C# .NET 2003 Standard is intended for hobbyist or non-professional developers looking to learn the C# programming language. It does not include the following features found in Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional and higher editions:
1)The 'server' node in the Server Explorer.
2) Source code control integration.
3) Enhanced debugging support.
4) Enhanced deployment support.
5) Visual data tools.
6) Extra wizards.
7) Enterprise Sample applications.
8) Software development kit (SDK) support.
9) Smart device programmability.
Q5: How can I get more information on Visual C# .NET?
There are a number of resources for obtaining more information on Visual C# .NET.
The Visual C# .NET Community Site on GotDotNet is available for developers seeking information directly from the Microsoft C# team.
Code Project, one of our premiere CodeWise community Web sites, is hosting Csharp.org, a community site for developers to post their own white papers, samples, and other information.
MSDN Online also contains a wealth of technical knowledge in the form of white papers, samples, and downloads.
Q6: How do I pose a question or send feedback to the C# community?
There are two primary ways to ask the community questions:
1) Post to the public C# USENET newsgroup at microsoft.public.dotnet.
languages.csharp.
2) Post to the public C# discussion forum at either Gotdotnet.com or Csharp.org.
If you wish to offer feedback, please send mail to the C# feedback alias, sharp@microsoft.com. Note that we cannot answer questions or technical support issues from this alias. For technical support, please consult Product Support Services (PSS). For questions, please use the newsgroup or the discussion forum.
Q7: What are the differences between the Visual Basic and C# programming languages?
Visual Basic .NET and Microsoft Visual C# .NET have been designed for the Visual Basic and Microsoft Visual C++ communities, respectively. Visual Basic .NET was built around the concept of empowering Visual Basic developers with unprecedented power and productivity in building XML Web services, desktop applications, Web applications, and mobile applications. Visual C# was driven by developers within the C++ community who wanted more productivity in building their applications.
Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# .NET contain a very similar set of capabilities, and applications built in these two languages will exhibit similar characteristics of developer productivity, ease of debugging, .NET Framework support, and performance.
However, Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# .NET differ considerably in their user experiences, above and beyond the obvious syntactical differences. Because Visual Basic .NET targets Visual Basic developers, it incorporates many of the concepts and constructs familiar to Visual Basic developers, such as case-insensitive coding, a background compiler, and the option to do late binding. Similarly, the C# language incorporates features familiar to C++ developers, such as case sensitivity, 'unsafe' code, operator overloading, built-in versioning, and better support for inline documentation.
Q8: What is the symbol in the name 'C#'?
It's not the 'hash' (or pound) symbol as most people believe. It's actually supposed to be the musical sharp symbol. However, because the sharp symbol is not present on the standard keyboard, it's easier to type the hash ('#') symbol. The name of the language is, of course, pronounced 'see sharp'.
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