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What is C# History?

What is history of C#?

C# (pronounced "C Sharp") is a programming language that is latest, flexible. It is made by Microsoft. C# is an object-oriented programming language that support four main pillar of OOP Abstraction, Encapsulation, Inheritance, Polymorphism. It run on .NET Framework. It's history start from late 1990s.

Important Overview of the History of C#

1. Late 1990s - Project Cool:
when Microsoft initiated "Project Cool in the the late 1990s the development of C# can be traced back. For Windows application development there was a need of a project that aimed to create a new, modern, and safer language.

2. 1999 - C# Announcement:
The July 1999 was a year when C# was officially introduced to the public by Microsoft, at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC). For the Microsoft's .NET initiative It was seen as a key component and was designed to provide a join platform for building Windows applications.

3. Early 2000s - .NET Framework:
As part of the .NET Framework C# was released in 2002.This was made for building and running Windows and web applications as a comprehensive platform. For multiple programming languages, including C# the .NET Framework provided a common runtime environment.

4. Cross-Platform Development (C# 9.0 and later):
The support of cross-platform development was started with the invention of .NET 5.0 and later, We can create web and desktop base application and software with C# and many other languages that run on various operating system.

5. 2002 - First Official Release:
C# 1.0 was officially released in January 2002 as part of Visual Studio .NET. This marked the first stable version of the language.

6. 2005 - C# 2.0:
C# 2.0 introduced several enhancements, including generics, anonymous methods, nullable value types, and more.

7. 2008 - C# 3.0:
C# 3.0 brought significant language improvements, such as lambda expressions, extension methods, and the LINQ (Language-Integrated Query) framework.

8. 2010 - C# 4.0:
C# 4.0 added dynamic typing, optional and named parameters, and COM interop improvements.

9. 2012 - C# 5.0:
C# 5.0 introduced asynchronous programming support with the async and await keywords.

10. 2015 - C# 6.0:
C# 6.0 included features like null-conditional operators, expression-bodied members, and string interpolation.

11. 2017 - C# 7.0:
C# 7.0 introduced pattern matching, local functions, and tuples, among other language enhancements.

12. 2018 - C# 7.1:
C# 7.1 was a minor update, adding features like async main methods and tuple projection initializers.

13. 2019 - C# 8.0:
C# 8.0 brought significant language improvements, including nullable reference types, ranges, and default interface methods.

14. 2020 - .NET 5.0:
Init-Only setters property gives us the flexibility to set the value of a property by using the object initializer as well the property is also immutable. The Main() method and surrounding namespace and program class details are no longer required. The purpose of Init-only properties is to allow assignment only in the object initializer or the constructor for your class. In a field declaration, readonly indicates that assignment to the field can only occur as part of the declaration or in a constructor in the same class. A readonly field can be assigned and reassigned multiple times within the field declaration and constructor.

15. 2021 - .NET 6.0:
It allows you to simplify a struct definition to a single line. A global using directive imports a namespace for your whole application instead of a single file. These global directives can be added either by adding a item to the project file, or by adding the global using directive to a code file. File scoped namespaces use a less verbose format for the typical case of files containing only one namespace. The file scoped namespace format is namespace X.Y.Z; (note the semicolon and lack of braces).Allow property subpatterns to reference nested members. Specifies that the method or property will ensure that the listed field and property members have values that aren't null.

15. 2022 - .NET 7.0:
.NET 7.0, released in November 2022, is a unified, high-performance, cross-platform development platform for building cloud, web, desktop, mobile, and IoT apps. It includes performance improvements, minimal APIs enhancements, and better support for containerization and cloud-native development. It is a Standard-Term Support (STS) release, supported for 18 months. .NET 7 continues the vision of unifying .NET Core and .NET Framework into a single platform.

15. 2023 - .NET 8.0:
.NET 8.0, released in November 2023, is a Long-Term Support (LTS) release with support until November 2026. It brings major performance improvements, native AOT (Ahead-of-Time) compilation for more app types, and enhanced cloud-native and container support. .NET 8 also improves Blazor, minimal APIs, and machine learning (ML.NET). It continues the unification of .NET for cross-platform development.

15. 2024 - .NET 9.0:
.NET 9.0, expected in November 2024, is a Standard-Term Support (STS) release focused on performance, cloud-native optimization, and developer productivity. It enhances Native AOT, introduces new C# 13 features, and improves support for WASM, containers, and cross-platform apps. .NET 9 continues the evolution of unified .NET with tooling and runtime improvements across all workloads.

15. 2025 - .NET 10.0:

.NET 10.0 was officially released around November 11 / 12, 2025 at .NET Conf and is a Long Term Support (LTS) release supported through November 2028.

It focuses on major performance improvements across the runtime and compilers, making apps faster with better JIT inlining, memory handling, and hardware acceleration.

The release deeply integrates AI-centric capabilities, including the new Microsoft Agent Framework for building intelligent applications.

It includes updates to languages like C# 14 and F# 10, improvements to ASP.NET Core, MAUI, Blazor, and expanded support for modern workloads including enhanced cryptography and networking.

Overall, .NET 10 aims to be a unified, secure, and high-performance platform for modern cloud, web, mobile, and AI applications

For reading complete above tutorial please visit following link : C# History

For more such type of tutrials please visit this site: C-Sharp Tutorial

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