C# Syntax - Easy Learn C#

Basic Syntax

C# syntax is similar to other C-style languages like C, C++, and Java. If you know any of these languages, C# syntax will look familiar.

Example:


using System;

namespace HelloWorld
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Output text to the console
            Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
            
            // Ask for user input
            Console.Write("What is your name? ");
            
            // Read user input from the console
            string name = Console.ReadLine();
            
            // Output using the input
            Console.WriteLine($"Hello, {name}!");
        }
    }
}

Let's break down this code:

using System; - This line imports the System namespace which contains the Console class
namespace HelloWorld { ... } - Groups your code into a namespace called "HelloWorld"
class Program { ... } - Defines a class called "Program"
static void Main(string[] args) { ... } - The Main method is the entry point of your program
Console.WriteLine("Hello World!"); - Prints text to the console with a new line at the end
Console.Write("What is your name? "); - Prints text without a new line
string name = Console.ReadLine(); - Reads a line of input from the user and stores it in a variable
Console.WriteLine($"Hello, {name}!"); - Prints text with the user's input using string interpolation

C# Statement Structure

In C#, statements end with a semicolon (;) and code blocks are enclosed in curly braces { }.


// Single statements end with semicolons
int x = 10;
Console.WriteLine(x);

// Code blocks use curly braces
if (x > 5) 
{
    Console.WriteLine("x is greater than 5");
    x = 5;  // This is also within the block
}

// Single statement blocks can omit braces (not recommended)
if (x == 5)
    Console.WriteLine("x equals 5");  // Only this line is in the if block

Important notes:

Every statement must end with a semicolon
Code blocks define the scope of variables declared within them
While you can omit braces for single-statement blocks, it's generally not recommended for readability and to prevent bugs

C# Case Sensitivity

C# is a case-sensitive language. This means that myVariable and MyVariable are considered different identifiers.


// These are three different variables
int value = 10;
int Value = 20;
int VALUE = 30;

// This works
Console.WriteLine(value);  // Outputs: 10
Console.WriteLine(Value);  // Outputs: 20
Console.WriteLine(VALUE);  // Outputs: 30

// This would cause an error
// Console.WriteLine(vAlUe);  // Variable 'vAlUe' doesn't exist

C# Comments

Comments are used to explain code and are ignored by the compiler.


// This is a single-line comment

/* This is a 
   multi-line comment */

/// <summary>
/// XML documentation comments are used to generate documentation
/// </summary>
public void DocumentedMethod()
{
    // Method implementation
}

C# supports three types of comments:

// Single-line comments - Everything after // on that line is a comment
/* Multi-line comments */ - Everything between /* and */ is a comment, even across multiple lines
/// XML documentation comments - Special comments that can be used to generate documentation

C# Coding Conventions

Following are some common C# coding conventions:

PascalCase: Used for class names, method names, and public members (e.g., ClassName, MethodName)
camelCase: Used for local variables and parameters (e.g., localVariable, parameterName)
_camelCase: Often used for private fields (e.g., _privateField)
ALL_CAPS: Sometimes used for constants (e.g., MAX_SIZE)
Braces on their own line (typically) for methods and classes
Use four spaces for indentation (or a tab set to four spaces)