Chapter 16. Whither now?
This chapter covers
- The evolution of C#
- .NET meets computer science
- How you can make a difference
- The wider world of computing
So that’s C#—as far as version 4, anyway. Rather than leave you with an abrupt context switch from Code Contracts to the appendixes, I wanted to wind down with a few thoughts about how far we’ve come and where we might be going.
Of course, any forward-looking statements expressed in this chapter should be taken with a large bucket of salt. Please don’t try to return this book for a refund if I’m completely wrong. Retrospective statements are likely—but not guaranteed—to be more accurate.
These musings cover more than just C#, but that’ll be our starting point. From there we’ll work outward, through the .NET ecosystem to the whole computing industry.
C# has come a really long way—and in a short space of time, for a mainstream language. The more users a language has, and the less tolerant they are of pain, the harder it is to introduce change. Banks and other large enterprises aren’t likely to be overjoyed if they hear that your latest and greatest release is incompatible with earlier versions. As such, the C# team is extremely cautious about breaking changes: they do exist, but they’re rare and usually provoke a compile-time warning.