Programming in C Sharp or C# (C Sharp is more SEO friendly) is one of the best decisions I ever made. As a lot of computer science students my age in the UK, I was learning a lot of Java. Most of my modules would explain complex programming concepts and algorithms using Java. Most of our university computers were Linux Oracle based and Java was just pre installed. While Java and C# have a lot in common the main difference was support. Microsoft really supported C# with a great IDE, tools and many resources and certifications to back all your knowledge up with. In this article we will discuss the IDEs, tools and certifications you can get if you plan to specialise in C#.
C sharp IDEs
The first Independent Development Environment we will talk about is Visual Studio. Visual Studio is probably the first great IDE. There were many in the early 2000s and 2010s but Visual Studio took a huge leap ahead of what was already there. It contains tools for running unit tests. Templates for many different project types. Syntax highlighting for a lot languages including C# of course. If you are a C# developer you need Visual Studio. The only negative of Visual Studio is that it only works on Windows. A Mac version did exist but it was discontinued in 2024.
If you would like to get Visual Studio you can find it here: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/
The second IDE we will look at is Visual Studio Code. VS Code is a new IDE by Microsoft which has quickly become the most popular IDE among all developers. The reason is VS code works on all platforms (Linux, Mac and Windows). It supports all languages and it is highly extendable. VS Code has many extensions available for different programming languages making it ideal for people who want to set up something they want it.
You can get VS Code here: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/ . Or you can use the browser based version of VS Code at: https://vscode.dev/ which works on tables and Chromebooks!
The final IDE we will look at is Rider. Jetbrains is a company that creates great IDEs and tools and Rider is their C# .NET IDE. It works on all platforms like Linux, Mac and Windows. It is extremely fast and easy to use. Has many advanced tools for unit testing, code quality and formatting. It also has game development integrations.
You can get Rider here: https://www.jetbrains.com/rider/
C sharp tools
ReSharper by Jetbrains is probably the first tool you will hear developers talk about in the .NET space. The reason for it is that it is an amazing tool that helps you keep your code clean, consistent and well formatted. ReSharper helps clean up code smells, security flaws and improve code maintainability. ReSharper is an expensive tool but it pays it’s self back with the time savings you will make when improving your code quality.
You can find ReSharper here: https://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/
DotPeek is another amazing tool by Jetbrains. It has come in very handy to me personally when working as a consultant for a web agency. DotPeek lets you de-compile dlls and see the underlying code. This helps if you are looking at a project for which you do not have the code for some reason. This way you can look at old projects where the code is lost or libraries which are not open source but you need to have a look at a specific implementation.
Microsoft certifications
Microsoft has one of the best free course website by a long way. They provide a ton of learning material for free! On that website you can find many .NET C# learning paths for all available use cases. I would recommend starting here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/get-started-c-sharp-part-1/ . Once you have some experience and knowledge of programming in c sharp I would recommend going to the search section of the learn website and seeing where you want to go next: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/browse/?products=dotnet&resource_type=learning path . Microsoft also offers certifications which are very well received in the job market. To be a certified developer with .NET C# you will want to look at this exam: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/azure-developer/?practice-assessment-type=certification . These exams are long and difficult, they can also be expensive but they are well worth taking.
Overall programming in c sharp has changed my life for the better. Allowed me to work for some amazing companies on great projects that millions of people are using. I hope this article has helped you get started with C#!