Programming Microsoft Visual C# 2005

Programming Microsoft Visual C# 2005: The Language

byDonis Marshall

Microsoft Press 2006 (704 pages)

ISBN:0735621810

Offering expert guidance, hands-on programming instruction, and practical examples, this straightforward book

will help both new and experienced developers advance their proficiency in developing applications for

Microsoft Windows and the Web.

Table of Contents

Programming Microsoft Visual C# 2005—The Language

Introduction

Part I - Core Language

Chapter 1 - Introduction to Visual C# Programming

Chapter 2 - Types

Chapter 3 - Inheritance

Part II - Core Skills

Chapter 4 - Introduction to Visual Studio 2005

Chapter 5 - Arrays and Collections

Chapter 6 - Generics

Chapter 7 - Iterators

Part III - More C# Language

Chapter 8 - Delegates and Events

Chapter 9 - Exception Handling

Part IV - Debugging

Chapter 10 - Metadata and Reflection

Chapter 11 - MSIL Programming

Chapter 12 - Debugging with Visual Studio 2005

Chapter 13 - Advanced Debugging

Part V - Advanced Concepts

Chapter 14 - Memory Management

Chapter 15 - Unsafe Code

Appendix A - Operator Overloading

Index

List of Figures

List of Tables

Programming Microsoft Visual C# 2005: The Language

byDonis Marshall

Microsoft Press 2006 (704 pages)

ISBN:0735621810

Offering expert guidance, hands-on programming instruction, and practical examples, this straightforward book

will help both new and experienced developers advance their proficiency in developing applications for

Microsoft Windows and the Web.

Table of Contents

Programming Microsoft Visual C# 2005—The Language

Introduction

Part I - Core Language

Chapter 1 - Introduction to Visual C# Programming

Chapter 2 - Types

Chapter 3 - Inheritance

Part II - Core Skills

Chapter 4 - Introduction to Visual Studio 2005

Chapter 5 - Arrays and Collections

Chapter 6 - Generics

Chapter 7 - Iterators

Part III - More C# Language

Chapter 8 - Delegates and Events

Chapter 9 - Exception Handling

Part IV - Debugging

Chapter 10 - Metadata and Reflection

Chapter 11 - MSIL Programming

Chapter 12 - Debugging with Visual Studio 2005

Chapter 13 - Advanced Debugging

Part V - Advanced Concepts

Chapter 14 - Memory Management

Chapter 15 - Unsafe Code

Appendix A - Operator Overloading

Index

List of Figures

List of Tables

Back Cover

Get hands-on, expert guidance for developing with Visual C# 2005.

Get the essential, straightforward information you need to master the core capabilities of Visual C# 2005. Both new

and experienced developers get expert guidance, hands-on programming instruction, and practical examples to help

advance their proficiency in developing applications for Microsoft Windows and the Web.

Discover how to:

Refine class usage with inheritance, polymorphism, and other strategies

Implement generics to define a type-safe data structure

Work with stacks, queues, arrays, dictionaries, and other collections

Use iterators to implement and standardize enumerator patterns

Know when to catch exceptions—and handle them locally or propagate them

Interrogate metadata and facilitate late binding by using reflection

Synchronize threads with locks, events, mutexes, and other tools

Use the Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger and explore advanced debugging techniques and tools

About the Author

Donis Marshall is a trainer, a consultant and an author with 20 years of development experience and an in-depth

background on Microsoft .NET technologies. He is the author of several books, including .NET Security Programming.

Donis teaches classes on .NET programming, debugging, security, and design and architecture. In addition, he is the

president of DebugNow.

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Programming Microsoft Visual C# 2005—The Language

Donis Marshall

PUBLISHED BY Microsoft Press A Division of Microsoft Corporation

One Microsoft Way Redmond, Washington 98052-6399

Copyright © 2006 by Donis Marshall

ISBN:0735621810

All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by

any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number 2005934153

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 QWT 0 9 8 7 6 5

Distributed in Canada by H.B. Fenn and Company Ltd.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Microsoft Press books are available through booksellers and distributors worldwide. For further information

about international editions, contact your local Microsoft Corporation office or contact Microsoft Press

International directly at fax (425) 936-7329. Visit our Web site at www.microsoft.com/mspress. Send

comments to [email protected].

Microsoft, IntelliSense, Microsoft Press, MSDN, Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual Studio, the Visual Studio logo,

Win32, Windows, Windows CE, the Windows logo, Windows NT, and WinFX are either registered trademarks

or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and

company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places,

and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product,

domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred.

This book expresses the author's views and opinions. The information contained in this book is provided

without any express, statutory, or implied warranties. Neither the authors, Microsoft Corporation, nor its

resellers, or distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused either directly or

indirectly by this book.

Acquisitions Editor: Ben Ryan

Project Editor: Valerie Woolley

Technical Editor: James D. Rogers

Copy Editor: Nancy Sixsmith

Indexer: Tony Ross and Lee Ross

Body Part No. X11-50074

This book is dedicated to my father, Herbert Marshall. He was a nuclear engineer, an artist, a confidant, a

doting husband to my mother, and most of all a compassionate person. He was a giant amongst men and

touched innumerable lives. His three sons, including myself, miss him every day.

Acknowledgments

Programming Microsoft Visual C# 2005: The Language was completed with the collaboration of several

people. I am credited on the cover, but the contribution of others is no less important. I want to especially

acknowledge the contributions of Valerie Woolley, Ben Ryan, and Jim Rogers. If possible, they would also

receive cover credit. Valerie was the project manager and provided support, encouragement, patience, and

the occasional nudge when necessary. Ben, who was the acquisitions editor, had unyielding confidence in my

ability, which is greatly appreciated. Jim Rogers was the technical editor and diligently reviewed hundreds of

pages of manuscript and code. He helped assure the superb quality of the book.

I also want to thank John Bruno, who is an exceptional engineer, for reviewing and commenting on each

chapter, which was very helpful.

Writing a book is an all-consuming project. Unfortunately, much of this burden is carried by friends and loved

ones. I appreciate the patience and support of my mother, Lynn, and of my friends Herb, Jr., Chuck, and

Patty, along with a long list of other friends who were treated shabbily during this project. Thanks for your

understanding.

Finally, I want to acknowledge my children: Jason, Kristen, and Adam. They make every day special. They

are my motivation. A special acknowledgment is reserved for Jason. During most of this project, Jason was

stationed in Iraq as a Marine. He recently returned home safely. We are proud of you.

Donis Marshall

Donis Marshall is currently one of the few trainers endorsed by Microsoft Global Learning Services to conduct

Microsoft technology classes for Microsoft employees. In this capacity, Mr. Marshall travels internationally,

delivering dozens of classes to Microsoft developers and engineers in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

His repertoire includes classes on Advanced .NET UMD Debugging, Advanced .NET Debugging workshops,

.NET Design and Architecture, Visual Basic .NET Programming, .NET Interoperability and Security, .NET

Web Services, and ASP.NET. He also teaches .NET classes at Autodesk, NCCI, and NASA.

Donis Marshall is a nationally recognized teacher of computer technology to developers and scientists. As

founder and lead instructor for The Training Alliance, he taught advanced technical classes for many Fortune

500 clients. He also managed a staff of technical instructors as Director of Advanced Technical Learning

Services at Productivity Point International, a national franchiser of training services.

Mr. Marshall is President of DebugNow (www.debugnow). DebugNow offers an assortment of innovative

tools for support engineers and developers to debug and monitor Win32 and .NET applications.

As a contractor, Donis Marshall has written thousands of lines of code for various entities.

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Introduction

Microsoft Visual C# 2005 includes several enhancements to earlier versions of the language. If you want to

learn the new features of the language, Programming Microsoft Visual C# 2005: The Language offers

detailed explanations of each improvement. One of the most awaited additions to the .NET environment is

generics. Other additions include anonymous methods, static classes, and new classes that affect garbage

collection. This book introduces these new features, provides context, and displays sample code.

Enhancements are not limited to the language. The Microsoft Visual Studio IDE has also been enhanced in

Visual Studio 2005. Microsoft continues to expand upon the impressive assortment of rapid application

development (RAD) tools that are available. The Exception Assistant, code snippets, and visualizers are

some of the more notable advancements, where the emphasis is on providing helpful information that

markedly increases developer productivity. This book details these and other improvements to previous

versions of Visual Studio.

A larger portion of the lifetime of an application is spent in maintenance and debugging. Efficient and effective

debugging tools and techniques can facilitate a more robust application, which reduces the need to debug.

You can also resolve problems more quickly when they inevitably occur. A managed application has a

managed veneer and an unmanaged underpinning. Debugging requires an understanding of both realms

where a managed application exists: managed and unmanaged. From a debugging context, Chapter 12

examines both realms of a managed application and helps developers understand how to effectively debug a

managed application.

Who Is This Book For?

Programming Microsoft Visual C# 2005: The Language is for developers who want a comprehensive

explanation of Visual C# 2005 or want to explore a specific aspect of the language. It is a composite of

chapters sequenced to provide a rational and complete review of the language. Each chapter is also

reviewable as an independent unit that encapsulates a specific topic.

This book targets both professional and casual developers. Practical, in-depth explanations are offered for

even the most ardent developers. Sample code is provided as a complement to the content. For casual

developers, code is often the clearest explanation of in-depth concepts. Actually, even for professional

developers, sample code is often invaluable. For this reason, this book contains reams of code examples.

Organization of This Book

Programming Microsoft Visual C# 2005: The Language is organized into five parts.

The first part, "Core Language," introduces the basic concepts of the language. Chapter 1 contains a general

overview of the language. Chapter 2 introduces types, which include classes and value types. Chapter 3

explains inheritance in C# and the related keywords, such as virtual, override, sealed, and abstract.

The second part, "Core Skills," covers the core skills required to create a C# application. Chapter 4 reviews

Visual Studio 2005, which is the central tool in developing a managed application. Chapter 5 explains arrays

and collections. It is hard to imagine a competent C# application that does not employ arrays or collections.

Chapter 6 introduces generics, which is a new feature of .NET Framework 2.0. Chapter 7 pertains to iterators

and the capability to enumerate collection-related classes.

The third part, "More C# Language," focuses on additional language features. Chapter 8 details managed

function pointers, which are represented by delegates and events in managed code. Chapter 9 explains

structured exception handling in the run time and within the C# language.

The fourth part, "Debugging," is an all-inclusive explanation of debugging managed code. The first two

chapters in this section provide an internal view of an assembly, which is critical for anyone debugging a

managed application: Chapter 10 introduces metadata and reflection; Chapter 11 is an overview of Microsoft

intermediate language (MSIL) programming. Chapter 12 discusses debugging with Visual Studio, which is the

preferred debugging environment for most developers. Finally, Chapter 13 discusses advanced debugging

using the MDbg, Windbg, and SOS debugger extensions.

The final part is "Advanced Concepts." Chapter 14 covers managed memory and garbage collection in the

managed environment. Chapter 15 explains unsafe code and direct pointer manipulation. This chapter also

discusses calling functions that are in unmanaged (native) libraries.

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System Requirements

You'll need the following hardware and software to build and run the code samples for this book:

Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, or

Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition or Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition

600 MHz Pentium or compatible processor (1 GHz Pentium recommended)

192 MB RAM (256 MB or more recommended)

Video (800 × 600 or higher resolution) monitor with at least 256 colors (1024 × 768 High Color 16-bit

recommended)

2 GB available space on installation drive; 1 GB available space on system drive. With MSDN, the hard

disk requirements are 2.8 GB and 1 GB, respectively.

CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive

Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Technology Updates

As technologies related to this book are updated, links to additional information will be added to the Microsoft

Press Technology Updates Web page. Visit this page periodically for updates on Visual Studio 2005 and

other technologies:

http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/updates/

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Code Samples

All the code samples discussed in this book can be downloaded from the book's companion content Web

page at the following address:

http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/companion/0-7356-2181-0/

Support for This Book

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this book and the companion content. As corrections

or changes are collected, they will be added to a Microsoft Knowledge Base article. To view the list of known

corrections for this book, visit the following article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905044

Microsoft Press provides support for books and companion content at the following Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/support/books/

Questions and Comments

If you have comments, questions, or ideas regarding the book or the companion content, or questions that

are not answered by visiting the previous sites, please send them to Microsoft Press via e-mail to

[email protected]

Or via postal mail to

Microsoft Press

Attn: Developer Series Editor

One Microsoft Way

Redmond, WA 98052-6399

Please note that Microsoft software product support is not offered through the preceding addresses.

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Part I: Core Language

Chapter List

Chapter 1: Introduction to Visual C# Programming

Chapter 2: Types

Chapter 3: Inheritance

Chapter 1: Introduction to Visual C# Programming

Overview

Microsoft Visual C# 2005 is an object-oriented programming language used to develop applications targeting

the .NET environment. Programming languages are not unlike natural languages such as Spanish, Latin,

French, Chinese, or English—human languages that are written or spoken. Each natural language includes

rules that describe proper syntax and structure; we use these rules to convey cohesive thoughts and ideas. A

natural language also evolves over time, sometimes from or within a genus of other languages. Programming

languages share many of these attributes and also include rules for proper syntax and structure and often

evolve from other languages.

Acquiring proficiency in a programming language is similar to obtaining a high level of competency in a

natural language. Having acquired a level of competency in FORTRAN, Turkish, English, COBOL, Spanish,

German, C, and other languages (not necessarily in that order), I speak from experience. Languages are

languages. When you're learning a human language, your goals are literacy and being able to have a

conversation. If, as a student of French, you can sit in a Parisian café and read the menu while discussing

current events with the locals, your language skills are a fait accompli. The goal of this chapter is the same:

for you to become conversational in C#.

Learning a language typically begins with core elements of language. In English, these elements include

consonants, vowels, nouns, verbs, adjectives, phrases, and sentences. They represent the building blocks of

the language; you cannot read, write, or speak English without a fundamental understanding of these

language components. The key elements of C# are symbols and tokens, keywords, expressions, statements,

functions, and classes. Effective C# programming requires, of course, a fundamental understanding of these

elements, which this chapter will provide.

As you know, a sentence in English is more than random words terminated with a period. Likewise, in C#, a

programming statement is more than a collection of random clauses. The following English sentence and C#

statement are both nonsensical:

Programming fun is C#.

for(i<5;int i=0;++i)

In both cases, the correct elements are present, but the structure is incorrect. Using either a human language

or a programming language to convey cohesive ideas, concepts, tasks, or instructions requires organizing the

words and other elements of the language correctly. In the English language, syntax (the rules of a language)

indicates where a linking verb is placed in relation to the noun object. By comparison, C# syntax orders the

clauses of a for statement. According to C# syntax, the previous for statement should be structured like this:

for(int i=0;i<5;++i). Understanding the underlying language syntax is equally important for natural and

programming languages. This chapter will also provide the basic syntax of the C# language.

Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language, whereas English is a stress language. Learning Chinese is more than

simply assimilating new words and sentence structures. You must also learn tones because the meaning of a

Chinese word can change based on tone. Speaking Chinese with English enunciation would be confusing

and amusing at best. Similarly, C# is an object-oriented language, not a procedural language (more on this

difference later). C#, C++, Java, SmallTalk, Eiffel, and other object-oriented languages are only as effective

as your appreciation of object-oriented concepts and programming techniques. I recommend a basic

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knowledge of object-oriented analysis and design concepts as a complement to the newly acquired C# skills

this book will give you.

Finally, languages do not emerge spontaneously. Natural languages have been evolving for nearly 150,000

years, and knowing the heritage of and the influences on a language can be informative and helpful. For

example, English, French, German, Yiddish, and related languages are heavily influenced by their Latin

language heritage. As such, they have common words, syntax, and structures that are characteristic of the

Latin metalanguage. The origin of C# does not date back centuries, but an understanding of its evolution is

invaluable.

Language Origin

From the time when the first natural language appeared, hundreds of thousands of languages have

emerged. Many of these languages are now extinct, leaving about six thousand languages that are currently

spoken. Some of these languages are similar and grouped by classification. Other languages are quite

distinct, such as Kora, which incorporates a series of click sounds and is spoken by bushmen in Africa.

A list of programming languages is modest when compared with the catalogue of natural languages.

Beginning in the 1940s with Plankalkül, more than 1,000 programming languages have been documented.

Like natural languages, the variety and diversity of these languages is impressive: the succinctness of

assembler, the verbosity of COBOL, and the efficiency of C. For a comprehensive list of programming

languages, visit this link: http://oop.rosweb.ru/Other/.

The motivations that inspire the creation of languages are diverse: FORTRAN was created for scientific

analysis, COBOL for building business applications, RPG for report generation, and so on. Some languages

serve as refinements of earlier languages. CPL combined the best ingredients of several languages,

including ALGOL, FORTRAN, and COBOL. C# is an independently developed, object-oriented language and

a member of the C family of languages. It shares similar syntax and some concepts with other C-family

languages; more important, however, C# has few if any vestiges of procedural programming, in which the

basic programming element is the procedure (that is, a named sequence of statements, such as a routine,

subroutine, or function). Unfortunately, C++ inherited many of the artifacts of procedural programming from

C. C#, however, was designed to be a purely object-oriented language.

ALGOL is arguably the most influential programming language in history. The language was introduced in

1958 but became popular when ALGOL-60 was released in 1960. ALGOL quickly became the dominant

language in Europe during the 1960s. Its impact on future languages such as Pascal, C, and Java is

undeniable—these languages' grammatical syntax borrows heavily from ALGOL. I've programmed

professionally in ALGOL, assembler, COBOL, FORTRAN, C, C++, C#, Basic (in various renditions), Forth,

JavaScript, HTML, XML, MISL, and many more—and ALGOL remains my favorite language. The major

design goals of ALGOL were portability, a formal grammar, and support for algorithms. ALGOL-68 extended

the language, but the additions increased complexity and furthered abstraction from hardware. This

abstraction prevented developers from easily accessing devices and the lower tiers of the operating

environment. Soon, languages were introduced that were less complex and not as abstracted from the

architecture. One of these new languages was C.

The journey from ALGOL to C began with CPL. CPL, a derivative of ALGOL-60, was developed at the

Computer Lab of Cambridge University. CPL was created in 1963 by David Barron, Christopher Strachey,

and Martin Richards. Although CPL is not as abstracted as ALGOL, it did maintain one characteristic of

ALGOL: complexity. Martin Richards introduced Basic CPL (BCPL) in 1967 as a lean version of CPL. Ken

Thompson of Bell Labs drafted B in 1970 as the successor to BCPL. B was lighter, faster, and more

appropriate for systems programming. C was developed by Dennis Ritchie, also of Bell Labs, in 1972. C

returned some of the abstraction removed from B while keeping that language simple and quick. Although

initially consigned to the UNIX operation system and systems programming, C is a general-purpose language

and has been used for a diverse assortment of applications across a variety of platforms and operating

systems.

FORTAN, ALGOL, and COBOL dominated the procedural programming landscape in the 1960s. On a

separate track, Simula was created between 1962 and 1965 by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard at the

Norwegian Computing Center. Simula is notable for being the first object-oriented programming (OOP)

language. It was designed for simulation, but evolved into a general-purpose language. Simula introduced the

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important OOP concepts of classes, inheritance, and dynamic binding.

Combining aspects of C and Simula, Bjarne Stroustrup introduced C with Classes in 1979 as an

enhancement of the C programming language. Later, under Stroustrup's stewardship, C++ was created as a

direct descendant of C with Classes and was publicly recognized in 1983. C++ rapidly became the premier

object-oriented programming language and introduced structured exception handling, templates, and much

more.

C# premiered at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) held in Orlando, Florida, in 2000. The

primary architects of C# were Anders Hejlsberg, Scott Wiltamuth, Peter Sollichy, Eric Gunnerson, and Peter

Golde. C# was designed to be a fully object-oriented language focusing on developing components in a

distributed environment and was launched as part of a larger initiative by Microsoft called Microsoft .NET.

Underscoring the importance of .NET to Microsoft, Bill Gates was the keynote speaker at the PDC that year. I

attended the PDC in 2000 and was both intrigued and motivated by the introduction of .NET and C#. .NET is

emblematic of a philosophical change at Microsoft and an embracing of the standards community.

Both .NET, as defined by the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI), and C# were submitted to two

international standards organizations: ECMA and ISO/IEC. Also, .NET and .NET languages, described in the

Common Language Specification (CLS), continue the trend toward truly portable code. You can write an

application in one environment and run it anywhere else. Simultaneously, a new version of Microsoft Visual

Studio was announced: Visual Studio .NET. Visual Studio .NET provides rapid application development tools

for developing a wide variety of .NET applications.

More Info For information on the various standards for C# and .NET, follow these links. The current

ECMA standards for the C# Language Specification:http://www.ecma￾international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-334.htm. The current ECMA standards for

the Common Language Infrastructure: http://www.ecma￾international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-335.htm. The current ISO/IEC standards for

the C# Language Specification:

http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?

CSNUMBER=36768&ICS1=35&ICS2=60&ICS3=. The current ISO/IEC standards for the

CLI: http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?

CSNUMBER=36769&scopelist=.