C# 3.0 Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition

Syntax

C# syntax is based on C and C++ syntax. In this section, we describe C#’s elements of syntax, using the following program:

	using System;

	class Test
	{
	  static void Main( )
	  {
	    int x = 12 * 30;
	    Console.WriteLine (x);
	  }
	}

Identifiers and Keywords

Identifiers are names that programmers choose for their classes, methods, variables, and so on. These are the identifiers in our example program in the order in which they appear:

	System   Test   Main   x   Console   WriteLine

An identifier must be a whole word, essentially made up of Unicode characters starting with a letter or underscore. C# identifiers are case-sensitive. By convention, arguments, local variables, and private fields should be in camel case (e.g., myVariable), and all other identifiers should be in Pascal case (e.g., MyMethod).

Keywords are names reserved by the compiler that you can’t use as identifiers. These are the keywords in our example program:

	using   class   static   void   int

Here is the full list of C# keywords:

abstract	event	news	struct
as	explicit	null	switch
base	extern	object	this
bool	false	operator	throw
break	finally	out	true
byte	fixed	override	try
case	float	params	typeof
catch	for	private	uint
char	foreach	protected	ulong
checked	goto	public	unchecked
class	if	readonly	unsafe
const	implicit	ref	ushort
continue	in	return	using
decimal	int	sbyte	virtual
default	interface	sealed	void