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What is C#?

C# is a type-safe, object-oriented language from the C family used to create .Net applications with a component-oriented approach. The C# programming language was designed by Anders Hejlsberg from Microsoft in 2000. Microsoft introduced C# along with .NET Framework and Visual Studio.
As of today, Visual Studio Code, the .Net framework and platform and C# are free, open-source, and cross-platform.

Key features

• Simple language: Lacks pointers or direct memory modification vs. C++ or C
• Type-safe: Ensures variable data types are correctly defined
• Object-oriented: Define and use classes/objects
• Component-oriented: Reuse existing components without coding from scratch
• Open-source: Can develop apps on multiple OS, inc. Mac and Linux
• Interoperability: Can develop with managed and unmanaged 3rd party code
• Structured-programming: Can break programs into functions
• Rich library: Built-in functions speed up development
• Fast: Compilation and execution are very quick

Compiler

C# is compiled in Common Language Infrastructure via the .Net framework. Is is then executed by the Common Language Runtime (similar to the Java Virtual Machine or JVM for Java). This makes C# easily transferable from one plateform to another.