Chapter 1

Creating Your First C# Console Application

IN THIS CHAPTER

check Getting a quick introduction to programming

check Creating a simple console application

check Examining the console application

check Saving code for later

This chapter explains a little bit about computers, computer languages — including the computer language C# (pronounced “see sharp”) — and Visual Studio 2017. You then create a simple program written in C#.

Getting a Handle on Computer Languages, C#, and .NET

A computer is an amazingly fast but incredibly stupid servant. Computers will do anything you ask them to (within reason); they do it extremely fast — and they’re getting faster all the time.

Unfortunately, computers don’t understand anything that resembles a human language. Oh, you may come back at me and say something like, “Hey, my telephone lets me dial my friend by just speaking his name.” Yes, a tiny computer runs your telephone. So that computer speaks English. But that’s a computer program that understands English, not the computer itself.

The language that computers truly understand is machine language. It’s possible, ...

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