Get Started with .NET

Welcome to the .NET ecosystem! This guide will help you set up your development environment and build your first .NET application.

What is .NET?

.NET is a free, cross-platform, open-source developer platform for building many different types of applications. With .NET, you can:

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. 1

    Install the .NET SDK

    The .NET SDK (Software Development Kit) includes the tools you need to build and run .NET applications, including the compiler, runtime, and libraries.

    Visit the official .NET Download page to get the latest version for your operating system.

    Follow the installation instructions provided. After installation, open a new terminal or command prompt and verify the installation by running:

    dotnet --version
  2. 2

    Create Your First Application

    Let's create a simple "Hello, World!" console application. Navigate to your desired project directory in the terminal and run:

    dotnet new console -o MyFirstApp
cd MyFirstApp

    This command creates a new console application project named `MyFirstApp` and then changes the current directory to it.

  3. 3

    Explore the Code

    Open the Program.cs file in your favorite code editor. You'll see something like this:

    // Program.cs
using System;

Console.WriteLine("Hello, World!");

    This is the core of your application. The Console.WriteLine method prints the specified text to the console.

  4. 4

    Run Your Application

    To run your application, simply execute the following command in your terminal from the `MyFirstApp` directory:

    dotnet run

    You should see the output:

    Hello, World!

    Congratulations! You've just built and run your first .NET application.

Next Steps

Now that you have a basic understanding, you can dive deeper:

Explore Core Concepts