C# (pronounced "C sharp") is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. It will immediately be familiar to C and C++ programmers. C# combines the high productivity of Rapid Application Development (RAD) languages and the raw power of C++.

Visual C# .NET is Microsoft's C# development tool. It includes an interactive development environment, visual designers for building Windows and Web applications, a compiler, and a debugger. Visual C# .NET is part of a suite of products, called Visual Studio .NET, that also includes Visual Basic .NET, Visual C++ .NET, and the JScript scripting language. All of these languages provide access to the Microsoft .NET Framework, which includes a common execution engine and a rich class library. The .NET Framework defines a "Common Language Specification" (CLS), a sort of lingua franca that ensures seamless interoperability between CLS-compliant languages and class libraries. For C# developers, this means that even though C# is a new language, it has complete access to the same rich class libraries that are used by seasoned tools such as Visual Basic .NET and Visual C++ .NET. C# itself does not include a class library.

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C++ was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup of AT&T Bell Laboratories in the early 1980's, and is based on the C language. The "++" is a syntactic construct used in C (to increment a variable), and C++ is intended as an incremental improvement of C. Most of C is a subset of C++, so that most C programs can be compiled (i.e. converted into a series of low-level instructions that the computer can execute directly) using a C++ compiler.
C is in many ways hard to categorise. Compared to assembly language it is high-level, but it nevertheless includes many low-level facilities to directly manipulate the computer's memory. It is therefore an excellent language for writing efficient "systems" programs. But for other types of programs, C code can be hard to understand, and C programs can therefore be particularly prone to certain types of error. The extra object-oriented facilities in C++ are partly included to overcome these shortcomings.

Here is an example of a complete C++ program:

#include

int main()
{
int year_now, age_now, another_year, another_age;

cout << "Enter the current year then press RETURN.\n";
cin >> year_now;

cout << "Enter your current age in years.\n";
cin >> age_now;

cout << "Enter the year for which you wish to know your age.\n";
cin >> another_year;

another_age = another_year - (year_now - age_now);
if (another_age >= 0) {
cout << "Your age in " << another_year << ": ";
cout << another_age << "\n";
}
else {
cout << "You weren't even born in ";
cout << another_year << "!\n";
}

return 0;
}

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As a programming language, C is rather like Pascal or Fortran. Values are stored in variables. Programs are structured by defining and calling functions. Program flow is controlled using loops, if statements and function calls. Input and output can be directed to the terminal or to files. Related data can be stored together in arrays or structures.

Of the three languages, C allows the most precise control of input and output. C is also rather more terse than Fortran or Pascal. This can result in short efficient programs, where the programmer has made wise use of C's range of powerful operators. It also allows the programmer to produce programs which are impossible to understand.

Programmers who are familiar with the use of pointers (or indirect addressing, to use the correct term) will welcome the ease of use compared with some other languages. Undisciplined use of pointers can lead to errors which are very hard to trace. This course only deals with the simplest applications of pointers.

It is hoped that newcomers will find C a useful and friendly language. Care must be taken in using C. Many of the extra facilities which it offers can lead to extra types of programming error. You will have to learn to deal with these to successfully make the transition to being a C programmer.

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