Part 1. C# in context

When I was studying computer science at university, a fellow student corrected the lecturer about a detail he’d written on the blackboard. The lecturer looked mildly exasperated and answered, “Yes, I know. I was simplifying. I’m obscuring the truth here to demonstrate a bigger truth.” Although I hope I’m not obscuring much in part 1, it’s definitely about the bigger truth.

Most of this book looks at C# close up, occasionally putting it under a microscope to see the finest details. Before we start doing that, chapter 1 pulls back the lens to see the broader sweep of the history of C# and how C# fits into the wider context of computing.

You’ll see some code as an appetizer before I serve the main course of the rest of the book, but the details don’t matter at this stage. This part is more about the ideas and themes of C#’s development to get you in the best frame of mind to appreciate how those ideas are implemented.

Let’s go!