Datasheet

Part I: Getting Started

In this chapter, you will learn about

Downloading Visual Studio .NET ’ s C# Express

Installing C# Express

Testing C# Express to ensure it was installed correctly

With that in mind, let ’ s get started.

A Short History of Object - Oriented

Programming (OOP)

Many people believe that OOP is a product of the 1980s and the work done by Bjarne Stroustrup in

moving the C language into the object - oriented world by creating the C++ language. Actually, SIMULA 1

(1962) and Simula 67 (1967) are the two earliest object - oriented languages. The work on the Simula

languages was done by Ole - John Dahl and Kristen Nygaard at the Norwegian Computing Center in

Oslo, Norway. While most of the advantages of OOP were available in the earlier Simula languages,

it wasn ’ t until C++ became entrenched in the 1990s that OOP began to flourish.

C was the parent language of C++ and it was often said that C was powerful enough to shoot yourself in

the foot multiple times. C++, on the other hand, not only was powerful enough to shoot yourself in the

foot, but you could blow your entire leg off without too much difficulty. Most programmers admit that

C++ is a very powerful language and it is still in widespread use today. However, with that power comes

a lot of complexity. Language developers wanted a simpler and perhaps less complex language for OOP

development.

The next step in the development of OOP started in January of 1991 when James Gosling, Bill Joy, Patrick

Naughton, Mike Sheradin, and several others met in Aspen, Colorado, to discuss ideas for the Stealth

Project. The group wanted to develop intelligent electronic devices capable of being centrally controlled

and programmed from a handheld device. They decided that OOP was the right direction to go with the

development language, but felt that C++ was not up to the job. The result was the Oak programming

language (named after an oak tree outside Gosling ’ s window), which eventually morphed into the Java

programming language. (Oak had to be renamed because the team discovered that a language by that

name already existed.)

Java quickly grew in popularity, spurred by the growth of the World Wide Web. In both cases this rapid

growth was in part due to the fact that the “ guts ” necessary to run Java programs on the Web quickly

became an integral part of various web browsers. With the improved Web functionality augmented by

Java, the Web hit light speed.

To many programmers, C# is Microsoft ’ s answer to Java. Some would even say that C# is the result of

Microsoft ’ s stubbornness in refusing to promote a language it did not develop. That sentiment is a bit too

harsh. Microsoft had good reasons for developing C#, not the least of which was that it wanted what are

known as type - safe programs that run in a managed environment. You ’ re not ready to appreciate exactly

what that means right now, but it will become clear as you learn C#.

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ISBN: 978-0-470-26129-3 I Title: Beginning C# 3.0 : An Introduction to Object Oriented Programming I SKU: 9785CH0009874