Beginning C# 2008 Objects: From Concept to Code

14.2. Developing Command Line–Driven Applications

We occasionally have a need to develop a command line–driven application—i.e., an application that doesn't have a formal GUI front-end for either soliciting input from the user or for displaying output to the user. Running a program from the command line is also useful during code development, because debugging messages can be written to appear on the console window. When building command line–driven applications, we need to be able to

• Accept input, either by

  • Reading data from the command line, in the form of command-line arguments, or

  • Accepting keyboard input as typed by the user

• Display textual messages to the user, including both prompts for input as well as feedback on operations that have been ...