Articles

Interview with Joydip Kanjilal on the future of C#

Microsoft founded C# programming language during the early 2000s. We had a great privilege to work with the C# language ever since its inception. Microsoft has added several features and improvements to the C# programming language to simplify the overall development time. The integration of C# with Visual Studio was a big success. Joydip Kanjilal has been working deeply with the C# language and has authored several books including the recently published Mastering C# 8.0 by BPB Publications. We had a great chance to interview him and he was kind enough to provide answers.

Can you shortly elaborate on the growth of the .NET Framework ever since its beta launch in early 2000s?

Microsoft started working on .NET in the late 90s with an objective of building a framework that would be based on managed code, ie., code that would execute inside a runtime environment. The software giant released the .NET Framework in early 2002. It then had WinForms for building Windows desktop applications, ASP.NET for building web applications and ADO.NET for data access in a managed environment. Since then, it has matured a lot over the years and is now one of the most popular platforms around to build windows and web applications. As on today, the latest version is .NET Framework 4.7.2.

What is the difference between .NET Framework and .NET Core?

.NET Core is the cross-platform, open-source flavour of .NET Framework that can run on all major operating systems, i.e., Windows, Linux, and MacOS. The future of .NET is .NET Core.

Does you think Java is still popular because of the rapid growth of C#?

Platform independence or multi-platform support is one of the main reasons why Java has become so popular. Java was made available much before .NET and it became the standard programming language for most enterprise software development in the late 90s. C# has matured a lot over the past few years and has become very popular in the development community.

Can you explain the latest features of C# shortly?

As on today, C# 8.0 is the latest version of the C# programming language. Some of the new features and enhancements in C# 8.0 include: Default interface methods, Nullable reference types, Enhancements to Pattern Matching, Asynchronous streams, etc.

How efficient is Visual Studio whole working with C#?

Visual Studio is the best editor for working on .NET and .NET Core applications. It is a fully featured, extensible, free and modular IDE from Microsoft.

Can you point out few third-party text editors used for programming C#?

Microsoft-powered Visual Studio Code is quite popular. Another popular editor that can be used for programming C# is MonoDevelop.

What is the road ahead for C# in 2020?

The C# programming language will continue to grow much the same way it has been growing. The C# community has grown leaps and bounds after .NET Framework was open sourced. According to TIOBE, C# is the 5th most popular programming language now. It is one of the most popular programming languages for Windows, Web, and mobile development.

Please share something about your latest book on C#?

My latest book titled “Mastering C# 8.0”, is targeted at beginner to advanced levels of readers. This book discusses OOP and C# concepts and covers C# 8.0 as well. Here’s the link to this book at Amazon.

Leave a Comment