The C# Programming Language

Microsoft's .NET Framework presents developers with unprecedented opportunities. From web applications to desktop and mobile platform applications - all can be built with equal ease, using substantially the same skill-set. But to make the most of this potential, developers must have a thorough grasp of language skills and object oriented programming concepts (OOP).

This course concentrates on the C# programming language itself, to fully prepare delegates in readiness for using the .NET Framework/Core. No Object-Orientated knowledge is assumed. From basic procedural syntax to sophisticated object-oriented programming techniques, delegates will learn how to write .NET code that is robust and maintainable.

The course is presented as a mixture of lectures, demos and hands-on exercises. Practical sessions follow all main topics, designed to reinforce the points covered.

This intensive course is intended for developers who will use C# to write .NET Framework or .NET Core applications and who are relatively new to the C# programming language.

• Write code that includes sequence, selection and iteration constructs
• Create and use classes and structures (types), including fields, properties, methods and delegates
• Use private, internal, protected and public visibility modifiers
• Use exception handling to create robust applications
• Create derived classes that inherit from custom-written or .NET classes
• Create interfaces and apply techniques of polymorphism effectively and appropriately
• Work with generic types
• Leverage the power of C# features
• Use delegates
• Use lambda expressions in C# code
• Use LINQ (Language Integrated Query)

In addition to the above, the following practice is introduced during the course:

• Test-Driven Development using XUnit

Delegates must understand the fundamentals of programming. Delegates can gain this level of knowledge by attending QA's 'Programming Foundations' (QAPROGFOU) course

Please note:

• Delegates attending this course via Extended Classroom will be required to provide dual monitors.
• Before attending this course, delegates must have a Microsoft account (signing up one is free). The instructions on how to set up a Microsoft account can be found here.

Module 1: Course Introduction

Module 2: Introduction to C#

• The .NET Framework; Compilation; The Common Language Runtime; The Common Type System
• What is C#?
• Top-level statements
• Namespaces and using directives
• Get to know your way around Visual Studio
• An introduction to debugging
• Start using Unit Test

Module 3: Variables and Datatypes

• Comments and identifiers
• Variables and built-in datatypes
• Value types versus reference types
• Built-in value types: integral, floating point, bool, char, structs and enums
• Reference types: object, strings, object instantiation
• Variable scope and access modifiers
• Operators
• Parsing and casting

Module 4: Conditionals

• If statements
• Switch statements and switch expressions
• Ternary conditional operator
• Null-coalescing and null-conditional operators

Module 5: Loops and Collections

• Arrays
• Foreach loops
• For loops
• While loops
• Do loops
• Generic collections: List and Dictionary
• Collection operators

Module 6: Object Oriented Programming (OOP)

• Why object orientation?
• OOP concepts and unified modelling language (UML)
• Classes and instantiation
• Association and aggregation
• Inheritance and interfaces

Module 7: Methods

• Methods and positional and named parameters
• Method overloading
• Return values
• Expression-bodied methods
• Passing parameters: by value and by reference
• Static methods and the using static directive
• Extension methods

Module 8: Properties and Constructors

• Fields
• Properties with backing fields
• Expression-bodied properties
• Auto-implemented properties and calculated properties
• How to access properties
• Constructing objects: constructors and expression-bodied constructors
• Constructor overloading and chaining
• Object initializers
• Static constructors
• The ‘this’ keyword

Module 9: Inheritance and Abstract Classes

• Inheritance
• Derived constructors
• Polymorphism
• Virtual members and overriding
• Invoking base class functionality
• Abstract classes
• Upcasting and safe down-casting
• Overriding System.Object
• Sealed classes and members

Module 10: Interfaces

• Creating and implementing interfaces
• Polymorphism
• Interfaces with default implementation
• Interface inheritance
• implementing interfaces explicitly

Module 11: Delegates and Lambdas

• Delegates: Func and Action
• Lambda expressions
• The Predicate delegate

Module 12: Language Integrated Query (LINQ)

• LINQ syntax
• Projections
• Deferred execution and immediate execution
• Joins and aggregations
• The let clause
• The OfType method

Module 13: Exception Handling

• Exception handling keywords: try, catch, finally, throw
• Understanding execution flow
• Throwing exceptions
• Custom exceptions
• Filtered exceptions
• Inner exceptions