Visual Studio and C#

Obtaining Visual Studio

The easiest way to obtain Microsoft Visual Studio is by downloading Visual Studio 2010 Express via the Microsoft VS Express download page. There you are presented with a number of Visual Studio products. We want Visual C# 2010 (which should be presented in a green box). The installer requires an internet connection to download necessary components. In addition to a new development environment, Visual C# brings with it (what may be) a new language. Don't worry: it's pretty similar to a few languages you've already seen.

C# and Java

C# is often compared with Java and for good reason: they are both C-style, managed languages built for object-oriented programming. Like Java, C# has garbage collection, so there is less memory-related housekeeping to worry about. Also like Java, C# code runs on a managed runtime, so one has to jump through some hoops to access memory natively.

Probably more important, though, is how C# is different. While there are many ways, I will go over a few that are more immediate.

• In Java, the convention is for objects to start uppercase and methods lowercase. In C#, methods start uppercase also (conventionally).
• Java's accessor paradigm is getX() and setX( X ). C# has properties which treat accessors more like fields than methods.

Recommendations

If you foresee a new development environment and language being a major hurdle to tackling the projects, I would recommend the following:

• Turn auto-completion on. This will help you become familiar with the structure of the frameworks, and see the available methods for an object in a convenient place.
• If you are particular about the format of your source code, turn off automatic code formatting, or, even better, customize it to your own coding style. New code is automatically formatted and supplied code can be reformatted if desired. More info here.

Visual C# is a powerful (and extensive) IDE. This is a great resource for learning more about it.

Through your BYU account you can also go to the Safari books online and there are some great free online books reviewing C# and .NET. For example “Learning C# 3.0” which is an easy beginner book, and “C# 4.0 in a nutshell” which gives more coverage of the .NET framework.