Create Program Logic and Objects Using the C Sharp (C#) Programming Language

So you want to start writing C Sharp apps! How do you go about that?

An excellent language with strong desktop applications for game and software development is C Sharp (or C#). The language consistently ranks among the top 5 of the most popular programming languages, according to the TIOBE index.

As a result, you can relax knowing that you’re studying a language that is in demand. Furthermore, C Sharp is a powerful general-purpose language that can be used to create both software and video games (it is even the default language for the well-known Unity engine).

This article will help you learn more about C# and introduce you to some basic methods for combining your program data with actual program logic. If you don’t already know how to control and manipulate data using common language infrastructure, you may read our post on the subject. Also, since Visual Studio is the primary IDE used for developing a Net project with C#, we advise downloading it if you haven’t already.

Let’s get started if you want to learn more about C#.

Describe C Sharp

C Sharp, which is more frequently abbreviated as C#, is one of the most well-liked programming languages currently available. Based on the C programming language, C Sharp was created by Microsoft and gives programmers a variety of capabilities, including automatic garbage collection, object-oriented programming paradigms, the ability to interact with LINQ extensions, and more. It is a productive powerhouse that has been used to create desktop programs, video games (especially those developed with Unity), and even a few online programs.

The language works effectively with many of Microsoft’s web services because it was developed by Microsoft. With the help of these web services, you may add a number of innovative and fascinating features, especially those that deal with AI and machine learning.

Decision-Making in C#

Making decisions for your program is an essential component of programming. This is what gives your program its artificial intelligence, manages the flow of code execution, chooses the appropriate course of action, decides what to do in response to user input like submitted data or the location of a user’s click or tap, and so much more!

There are two important Decision Control choices in C#:

1. IF Statement
2. SWITCH Statement

IF Statement

By giving a Boolean (bool) condition check and a block of code to execute IF the condition returns True, the IF Statement manages the flow of an application.

Coding an IF Statement:

1. if is the first keyword to use.
2. A conditional check is then added between parenthesis (condition-returns-boolean)
3. Open a piece of code with curly brackets
4. Put the code that will run if the condition is True inside the code block.
5. Provide else if blocks that operate similarly if True and the aforementioned conditions are False (optional)
6. If all of the preconditions were False, provide an else block that runs in the same manner (optional)

Like the majority of programming ideas, this is best explained with a straightforward example. Let’s say we have a straightforward calculator. Depending on whether the arithmetic operator is addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), or division (/), we do mathematical operations. Let’s execute the code four times, each time altering the mathOperator value.

When a condition returns true for the first time, the related code block executes, and the IF Statement is terminated without executing any further code. If there is an optional else code block, it runs if no conditions return True.

Several Conditions in an IF Statement

In C#, many conditions can be checked simultaneously. In IF-based Decision Control, these multiple condition tests (AND &&, OR ||) are highly helpful.

• For AND (&&), the result can only be true if both conditions are true. If the first comparison yields a False result, the second condition is not verified and False is returned. The result is determined by the second condition’s value if the first condition returns True.
• Both conditions must be True for OR (||) for the result to be True. The outcome will only be False if both assumptions are false.

Since we are aware that Divide-By-Zero will result in an error, we can, for instance, add an extra check if the mathOperator == “/”. The second portion of the / condition fails when we set num2 to equal 0, which results in the condition returning False and the calculation not being done. This is something to keep in mind. The code inside the else block is executed when all earlier conditions return False, setting the outcome of the calculation.

When a condition returns True for the first time, the related code block executes, and the IF Statement is terminated without executing any further code. If there is an optional else code block, it runs if no conditions return True.

SWITCH Statement

When you have a single variable that may have various values and you need to execute different actions based on its value, SWITCH Statements are an excellent method to write highly clean code.

You could discover that creating a switch is simpler than many other if statements. The switch statement generally makes your code clearer and simpler to understand, even though it occupies the same space and yields the same result.

Let’s adapt the same straightforward calculator example we used to show IF Statements to use a switch block instead. To address the Divide-By-Zero problem we addressed earlier while addressing IF Statements – Many Conditions, we can even position an if inside a switch case.

The switch block is terminated by the break; line without executing any further code when a condition returns True for the first time. If available, the optional default code block executes if no conditions return True.

C# Methods

Every C# program contains at least one Main method, which is called by the.NET runtime (also known as the common language runtime, or CLR), when the program is launched. Main serves as the entry point for every C# application. We have written all of our code to this point inside of Main. We need to develop methods outside of Main (it can be above or below just not inside).

The main benefit of Methods is their capacity for code reuse. Methods, often known as functions, are blocks of code that comprise a series of statements that carry out a function that we can use repeatedly. They may contain as many lines of code as you desire, but each line of code should only be used to complete one specific purpose. Your code is more reusable as a result.

Methods give us the ability to group together relevant code so that it can be called once and then executed as many times as necessary. Any code placed between curly braces () is regarded as a component of the Method.

We need a means for C# to access our method because only the code inside the Main function will be executed when the program launches. In this straightforward example, we called the method by utilizing its name and parenthesis (). In C#, this is referred to as invoking a method.

After C# runs the code included in the method, it goes back to the line that invoked the method and resumes running code as usual. For instance, if the method was called from within an if statement, this line may also need to perform other tasks, such saving the function’s returned result in a variable or comparing its value to another variable. The line of code after the method call is performed if there is no return value.

Even though we have only written the code once, we can call a Method as many times as we like. When we examine the passing of parameters to C# methods, we will discover how much more potent this is.

Method Signature

The signature of a method consists of multiple components:

• Access level, such as public or private, is optional (default)
• If no value is returned, return a value of any data type.
• approach name
• Parameters (optional) wrapped in parenthesis () — empty if no parameters; commas if there are several parameters

Although the name of the Method should not be distinctive, each signature must be. The only difference, for instance, is the parameters that the Greeter Method below uses. You’ll see that either method signature can be used to invoke the method Greeter.

C# Method Invocation

Depending on whether they are Static Methods or Instance Methods, methods are called or invoked.

Object-oriented programming includes instance methods, which are used on newly created objects (more about this in the Class section). This kind of technique works with the instance object’s state information.

Static methods, on the other hand, are called by their names and can work with the data supplied to them as parameters, but they are unable to directly access data from instance objects.

Keep in mind that the static keyword is used before the Main procedure. In this section, we’ll develop all of our methods in the same manner. Although static methods may be created within a Class, they are not a part of the Class. As we study Classes and Object-Oriented programming in the following section, this will all make more sense.

Passing Parameters

Our apps are given strength and intelligence by parameters. When using parameters, we first specify the parameter’s data type and then its desired name. For instance, the DogYears method in the code below accepts the two arguments name and age. You can use as many or as few parameters as you’d like.

C# Method Return Statement

You can have a method in C# return a value. You may have noted that in the previous Method examples, the Method Signatures contained the void keyword, which indicated to C# that we were not returning anything from the Method.

If we wish to return a value to the method caller, we need to swap out void for the data type of the value.

You should take note that you are free to call the method as much as you wish while supplying different values as parameters. The resulting value can then be directly used or saved in a variable.

Let’s write a method that can be used in a variety of different methods. Let’s use the C# modulus % operator to determine whether an integer is even or odd for the purposes of this example.

C# Classes and Objects

In order to produce a blueprint, model, or specification that enumerates the characteristics and functioning of a worldly entity in code, we can combine a named set of variables and functions into a class.

Say I wish to use “My Dog” as a coding representation. A distinct instance of “A Dog” is “My Dog.” We may define a template for the typical traits and behaviors of a dog by building a Dog class. The class may then be used as a blueprint (the real object) to generate an Object Instance that depicts “My Puppy”.

Object-Oriented C#

The programming language C# is Object-Oriented. This will only be a general review of the information you need to be familiar with in order to start using Classes and Objects in C# because, the subject of object-oriented programming, or OOP, is quite broad. In the sections that follow, we’ll briefly discuss each of the four pillars of OOP.

Class Syntax

Dog defines the type or class that is being constructed. The characteristics and behaviors this class represents are defined by anything between the curly brackets… that come after the class declaration. We can state that there are three members of this basic class (Dog). 

The data (state) that the Object Instance created from this class blueprint will hold (for instance, myDog) is determined by the properties Name and Age.

The other method in the class is called Bark(). Blocks of connected code known as methods should accomplish a single task and have names that are clear to you and any future developers who may examine this code (including future-you).

Access Modifier

Where we can access a class’s property or method is determined by access modifiers. Either public or private are options. When a property or method is private, it can only be utilized by instances of that class. It can be accessed outside of the class if it is set to public.

Creating Class Instance Object

An instance object represents our actual dog while the class is a specification or blueprint (based on the blueprint defined by the class). Outside of our actual Dog Class, we create this Instance by utilizing the class name as if it were a data type, followed by the name we want to give our Object. Next, as though we were invoking a method, we set that equal to a new Object (Class Instance) by using the assignment operator = followed by the new keyword, the class name, and open and closing parens ().

Class Constructor

In C#, there is a unique method called the Class Constructor that specifies what should be done when the class is constructed. Variables are frequently set using it. Simply include a structure that closely resembles a Method, with the exception that we don’t specify a Return type, to make a constructor.

The Constructor is fairly simple to design and resembles a straightforward Method in many ways. You can apply an access modifier (like public) to make it accessible from outside the Class, just like with a Method. The name must be the same as the class name, down to the letter case. In conclusion, using arguments will enable property information to be provided in when the Class instance is formed, much like when constructing a Method (referred to as Instantiated).

Actually, you can have more than one constructor in C#. Consider the scenario where we would like to maintain the ability to construct a Dog Object by providing no parameters but also want the choice to specify the dog’s name and age when we build our Dog instance. This might be accomplished by adding a new constructor to our class.

Class Properties

Since we haven’t yet used true C# properties, we have instead been using public class member variables. What makes a difference, then?

Encapsulation is a crucial idea in the object-oriented programming language C#. In essence, this means that the rest of our program is not aware of the internal state and functionality of an Object (formed from a Class blueprint). This state can only be accessed or changed using a public set of functions referred to as Getters and Setters.

To turn each class member variable into a property, we really only need to make one little change to it. The code for generating the objects, setting their properties, and invoking methods doesn’t need to be changed.

Last Words

We’ve come to the end of our discussion on C Sharp. With the help of this book, we hope you will be able to cope with programming logic in C Sharp with more ease. No matter what functionality we’re aiming to give our program, conditionals, loops, functions, and objects all help guide our data through that functionality. This holds true whether we’re discussing a simple calculator application or a sophisticated video game. Several incredible things, including mobile games, multiplayer games, first-person shooter games, animations, and more, have been made with C Sharp.

Yet, each of these is a step in the process of learning C Sharp. When it comes to creating desktop apps, it has a lot to offer as one of the most widely used programming languages. Although there are alternative languages, such as Python, one of the most widely used programming languages, C Sharp has several special advantages.

Of course, there is still more to learn, and studying real-world projects is the greatest way to learn a language. We are eager to see what you produce, so get out there and practice your C Sharp!