What's New in Visual C# .NET 2003[Visual Studio .NET 2003]
What's New for Visual C# in Visual Studio 2012
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Evolution of C# (1.0 – 5.0) – What are the New Features Introduced in C#
C# is not new to us. We are using it since Visual Studio 2002. Currently it is in released version 4.0 and C# 5.0 is on the way to release with Visual Studio 2012. Though we are using it since a long time, but many of us don’t know the new features that has been introduced in each new release.
This post will cover the “Evolution of C#” from version 1.0 to version 5.0 along with the new features and respective Visual Studio version. Bookmark this post for future reference and share it to your network and help others to know.
C# 1.0
Microsoft released the first version of C# with Visual Studio 2002. Use of Managed Code was introduced with this version. C# 1.0 was the first language that developer adopted to build .NET applications.
C# 2.0
Microsoft released the second version of C# language with Visual Studio 2005. C# 2.0 has three new features introduced in this edition which helped the developers to code their applications in more generic way. Here are the new features that was introduced with C# 2.0:
- Generics
- Anonymous Methods
- Nullable Type
- Partial Class
- Covariance and Contra-variance
C# 3.0
Visual Studio 2008 came with C# version 3.0 and it has a bunch of new features. It was the life changing language for Microsoft platform developers to build their applications. Till now, many developers are still using this version to build their apps. Here are the new features that came with C# 3.0:
- Lambda Expression
- Extension Method
- Expression Tree
- Anonymous Types
- LINQ
- Implicit Type (var)
C# 4.0
Though C# 4.0 was released with Visual Studio 2010 with .NET Framework 4, but very few developers uses it’s new features till date. Keep in mind that, it is the latest release version. Here is a list of new features of C# that came with this version:
- Late Binding
- Named Arguments
- Optional Parameters
- More COM Support
C# 5.0
Visual Studio 2012 is coming up with C# 5.0 and it will be available within next few months in 2012. The release candidate (RC) version is available for you to try out the new features. Here are two new features that is coming up with C# 5.0:
- Async Feature
- Caller Information
Infographic of C# Evolution
Here is the infographic of “Evolution of C#” and the new features introduced in different releases of C# and Visual Studio IDE, which you can bookmark for your future reference:
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List of new features in C#2.0, 3.0 and 4.0
Complete plug for my own book, but hopefully not gratuitous: get hold of the early access version of the second edition of C# in Depth. It skips C# 1, but goes into detail on every feature of C# 2, 3 and 4.
If you just want a list of features though, from appendix C:
C# 2.0:
The major features of C# 2 were generics, nullable types, anonymous methods and other delegate-related enhancements and iterator blocks. Additionally, several smaller features were introduced: partial types, static classes, properties with different access modifiers for getters and setters, namespace aliases, pragma directives and fixed-sized buffers.
C# 3.0:
C# 3 primarily built towards LINQ, although many features are useful elsewhere. Automatic properties, implicit typing of arrays and local variables, object and collection initializers and anonymous types are all covered in chapter XREF ch8 . Lambda expressions and expression trees extended the delegate-related progress made in version 2.0, and extension methods provided the last ingredient for query expressions. Partial methods were only added in C# 3, although partial types themselves were in C# 2. As Marc points out in the comments, generic type inference received a considerable boost in C# 3.
C# 4.0:
C# 4.0 has some features aimed at interoperability, but doesn't have the same single-mindedness of C# 3.0. Again there's a reasonably clear divide between the "small" features (named arguments, optional parameters, better COM interop, generic variance) and the huge feature of dynamic typing.
I've got a "bluffers guide" for C# 2 and another for C# 3, but I haven't done the equivalent for C# 4 yet I'm afraid.