A new edition of this title is now available, ISBN-10: 0321562992 ISBN-13:  9780321562999     C# is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language that combines the high productivity of rapid application development languages with the raw power of C and C++. Written by the language's architect, Anders Hejlsberg, and design team members, and now updated for C# 2.0, The C# Programming Language, Second Edition, is the definitive technical reference for C#. The book provides the complete specification of the language, along with descriptions, reference materials, and code samples from the C# design team. The first part of the book opens with an introduction to the language to bring readers quickly up-to-speed on the concepts of C#. Next follows a detailed and complete technical specification of the C# 1.0 language, as delivered in Visual Studio .NET 2002 and 2003. Topics covered include Lexical Structure, Types, Variables, Conversions, Expressions, Statements, Namespaces, Exceptions, Attributes, and Unsafe Code. The second part of the book describes the many new features of C# 2.0, including Generics, Anonymous Methods, Iterators, Partial Types, and Nullable Types. This second edition describes C# 2.0 as actually released in Visual Studio .NET 2005, with many additions and improvements over the design presented in the first edition. Reference tabs and an exhaustive index allow readers to easily navigate the text and quickly find the topics that interest them most. The C# Programming Language, Second Edition, is the definitive reference for programmers who want to acquire an in-depth knowledge of C#.    

Table of Contents:
Preface xiii PART I: C# 1.0 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 3 1.1 Hello World 4 1.2 Program Structure 5 1.3 Types and Variables 7 1.4 Expressions 11 1.5 Statements 14 1.6 Classes and Objects 18 1.7 Structs 34 1.8 Arrays 35 1.9 Interfaces 37 1.10 Enums 39 1.11 Delegates 40 1.12 Attributes 42 Chapter 2: Lexical Structure 45 2.1 Programs 45 2.2 Grammars 45 2.3 Lexical Analysis 47 2.4 Tokens 51 2.5 Preprocessing Directives 61 Chapter 3: Basic Concepts 73 3.1 Application Startup 73 3.2 Application Termination 74 3.3 Declarations 75 3.4 Members 77 3.5 Member Access 79 3.6 Signatures and Overloading 86 3.7 Scopes 87 3.8 Namespace and Type Names 93 3.9 Automatic Memory Management 95 3.10 Execution Order 99 Chapter 4: Types 101 4.1 Value Types 101 4.2 Reference Types 110 4.3 Boxing and Unboxing 112 Chapter 5: Variables 115 5.1 Variable Categories 115 5.2 Default Values 119 5.3 Definite Assignment 119 5.4 Variable References 133 5.5 Atomicity of Variable References 133 Chapter 6: Conversions 135 6.1 Implicit Conversions 135 6.2 Explicit Conversions 138 6.3 Standard Conversions 142 6.4 User-Defined Conversions 143 Chapter 7: Expressions 147 7.1 Expression Classifications 147 7.2 Operators 149 7.3 Member Lookup 156 7.4 Function Members 157 7.5 Primary Expressions 170 7.6 Unary Operators 193 7.7 Arithmetic Operators 198 7.8 Shift Operators 207 7.9 Relational and Type-Testing Operators 209 7.10 Logical Operators 216 7.11 Conditional Logical Operators 218 7.12 Conditional Operator 220 7.13 Assignment Operators 221 7.14 Expression 226 7.15 Constant Expressions 226 7.16 Boolean Expressions 228 Chapter 8: Statements 229 8.1 End Points and Reachability 230 8.2 Blocks 232 8.3 The Empty Statement 233 8.4 Labeled Statements 233 8.5 Declaration Statements 234 8.6 Expression Statements 236 8.7 Selection Statements 237 8.8 Iteration Statements 243 8.9 Jump Statements 248 8.10 The try Statement 255 8.11 The checked and unchecked Statements 258 8.12 The lock Statement 259 8.13 The using Statement 260 Chapter 9: Namespaces 263 9.1 Compilation Units 263 9.2 Namespace Declarations 264 9.3 Using Directives 265 9.4 Namespace Members 271 9.5 Type Declarations 271 Chapter 10: Classes 273 10.1 Class Declarations 273 10.2 Class Members 277 10.3 Constants 287 10.4 Fields 290 10.5 Methods 299 10.6 Properties 317 10.7 Events 327 10.8 Indexers 333 10.9 Operators 338 10.10 Instance Constructors 343 10.11 Static Constructors 349 10.12 Destructors 352 Chapter 11: Structs 355 11.1 Struct Declarations 355 11.2 Struct Members 356 11.3 Class and Struct Differences 357 11.4 Struct Examples 363 Chapter 12: Arrays 367 12.1 Array Types 367 12.2 Array Creation 369 12.3 Array Element Access 369 12.4 Array Members 369 12.5 Array Covariance 369 12.6 Array Initializers 370 Chapter 13: Interfaces 373 13.1 Interface Declarations 373 13.2 Interface Members 375 13.3 Fully Qualified Interface Member Names 380 13.4 Interface Implementations 380 Chapter 14: Enums 393 14.1 Enum Declarations 393 14.2 Enum Modifiers 394 14.3 Enum Members 394 14.4 The System.Enum Type 397 14.5 Enum Values and Operations 397 Chapter 15: Delegates 399 15.1 Delegate Declarations 399 15.2 Delegate Instantiation 402 15.3 Delegate Invocation 403 Chapter 16: Exceptions 407 16.1 Causes of Exceptions 407 16.2 The System.Exception Class 408 16.3 How Exceptions Are Handled 408 16.4 Common Exception Classes 409 Chapter 17: Attributes 411 17.1 Attribute Classes 411 17.2 Attribute Specification 414 17.3 Attribute Instances 420 17.4 Reserved Attributes 422 17.5 Attributes for Interoperation 428 Chapter 18: Unsafe Code 429 18.1 Unsafe Contexts 429 18.2 Pointer Types 433 18.3 Fixed and Moveable Variables 436 18.4 Pointer Conversions 437 18.5 Pointers in Expressions 438 18.6 The fixed Statement 446 18.7 Stack Allocation 450 18.8 Dynamic Memory Allocation 451 PART II: C# 2.0 455Chapter 19: Introduction to C# 2.0 457 19.1 Generics 458 19.2 Anonymous Methods 463 19.3 Iterators 467 19.4 Partial Types 471 19.5 Nullable Types 472 Chapter 20: Generics 477 20.1 Generic Class Declarations 477 20.2 Generic Struct Declarations 488 20.3 Generic Interface Declarations 488 20.4 Generic Delegate Declarations 490 20.5 Constructed Types 491 20.6 Generic Methods 498 20.7 Constraints 506 20.8 Expressions and Statements 517 20.9 Revised Lookup Rules 521 20.10 Right-Shift Grammar Changes 533 Chapter 21: Anonymous Methods 535 21.1 Anonymous Method Expressions 535 21.2 Anonymous Method Signatures 535 21.3 Anonymous Method Conversions 536 21.4 Anonymous Method Blocks 537 21.5 Outer Variables 538 21.6 Anonymous Method Evaluation 541 21.7 Delegate Instance Equality 542 21.8 Definite Assignment 543 21.9 Method Group Conversions 544 21.10 Delegate Creation Expressions 546 21.11 Implementation Example 546 Chapter 22: Iterators 551 22.1 Iterator Blocks 551 22.2 Enumerator Objects 552 22.3 Enumerable Objects 555 22.4 The yield Statement 556 22.5 Implementation Example 558 Chapter 23: Partial Types 567 23.1 Partial Declarations 567 23.2 Name Binding 571 Chapter 24: Nullable Types 573 24.1 Nullable Types 573 24.2 Conversions 574 24.3 Expressions 580 Chapter 25: Other Features 587 25.1 Property Accessor Accessibility 587 25.2 Static Classes 590 25.3 Namespace Alias Qualifiers 592 25.4 Extern Aliases 596 25.5 Pragma Directives 600 25.6 Default Value Expression 601 25.7 Conditional Attribute Classes 602 25.8 Fixed Size Buffers 603 PART III: Appendixes 609Appendix A Documentation Comments 611 A.1 Introduction 611 A.2 Recommended Tags 613 A.3 Processing the Documentation File 623 A.4 An Example 629 Appendix B Grammar 635 B.1 Lexical Grammar 635 B.2 Syntactic Grammar 644 B.3 Grammar Extensions for Unsafe Code 671 Index 675