Datasheet

To create an enterprise application with C#, you create a Class Library project for the data access objects
and another for the business objects. While developing, you can use Console projects to test the methods
on your classes. Fans of extreme programming can build Console projects that can be executed automati-
cally from batch files to unit test that working code has not been broken.
On a related note, C# and .NET will probably influence the way you physically package your reusable
classes. In the past, many developers crammed a multitude of classes into a single physical component
because this arrangement made deployment a lot easier; if there was a versioning problem, you knew
just where to look. Because deploying .NET enterprise components involves simply copying files into
directories, developers can now package their classes into more logical, discrete components without
encountering “DLL Hell.”
Last, but not least, ASP.NET pages coded in C# constitute an excellent medium for user interfaces. Because
ASP.NET pages compile, they execute quickly. Because they can be debugged in the Visual Studio 2005
IDE, they are robust. Because they support full-scale language features such as early binding, inheritance,
and modularization, ASP.NET pages coded in C# are tidy and easily maintained.
Seasoned developers acquire a healthy skepticism about strongly hyped new technologies and languages
and are reluctant to utilize new platforms simply because they are urged to. If you’re an enterprise devel-
oper in an IT department, though, or if you provide application services across the World Wide Web, let
us assure you that C# and .NET offer at least four solid benefits, even if some of the more exotic features
like XML Web services and server-side controls don’t pan out:
❑ Component conflicts will become infrequent and deployment is easier, because different versions
of the same component can run side by side on the same machine without conflicting.
❑ Your ASP.NET code won’t look like spaghetti code.
❑ You can leverage a lot of the functionality in the .NET base classes.
❑ For applications requiring a Windows Forms user interface, C# makes it very easy to write this
kind of application.
Windows Forms have to some extent been downplayed in the past year due to the advent of Web Forms
and Internet-based applications. However, if you or your colleagues lack expertise in JavaScript, ASP, or
related technologies, Windows Forms are still a viable option for creating a user interface with speed
and ease. Just remember to factor your code so that the user interface logic is separate from the business
logic and the data access code. Doing so will allow you to migrate your application to the browser at
some point in the future if you need to do so. Also, it is likely that Windows Forms will remain the dom-
inant user interface for applications for use in homes and small businesses for a long time to come. In
addition to this, the new smart client features of Windows Forms (the ability to easily work in an
online/offline mode) will bring a new round of exciting applications.
Summary
This chapter has covered a lot of ground, briefly reviewing important aspects of the .NET Framework
and C#’s relationship to it. It started by discussing how all languages that target .NET are compiled into
Microsoft Intermediate Language (IL) before this is compiled and executed by the Common Language
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Part I: The C# Language
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