To get the most out of this book

This is a book that covers C#, from its building blocks to its most advanced features. This book is intended for people who want to learn C#. Therefore, we do not expect you to have any prior knowledge of the language. However, we do expect you to have some basic exposure to programming concepts, such as what a compiler is, the difference between compile time and runtime, the difference between stack and heap, and others.

All the code samples in this book have been written using C# 8 and a modern programming style (such as using expression-bodied members, interpolated strings, local functions, and so on). All these samples are available together with the book in projects targeting .NET Core 3.1.

The following table lists the software and platform requirements for running these samples:

In order to run the source code, you need Visual Studio 2019 16.3 or newer, any edition, or Visual Studio Code. Most of the samples can also be tested using an online compiler. Should you prefer this option, we recommend that you use https://sharplab.io/.

If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself or access the code via the GitHub repository (link available in the next section). Doing so will help you avoid any potential errors related to the copying/pasting of code.