This chapter is about setting up your development environment; understanding the similarities and differences between .NET Core, .NET Framework, .NET Standard, and .NET Native; and using various tools to create the simplest application possible with C# 7 and .NET Core.
Most people learn complex topics by imitation and repetition rather than reading a detailed explanation of theory. So, I will not explain every keyword and step. The idea is to get you to write some code, build an application, and see it run. You don't need to know the details of how it all works yet.
In the words of Samuel Johnson, author of the English dictionary of 1755, I have likely committed "a few wild blunders, and risible absurdities, from which no work of such multiplicity is free. "I take sole responsibility for these and hope you appreciate the challenge of my attempt to "lash the wind" by writing this book about .NET Core and its command-line tooling during its rocky birth during 2016 and 2017.
This chapter covers the following topics:
Choosing your development environment
Installing Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 for Windows
Installing Microsoft Visual Studio Code for Windows, macOS, or Linux
Understanding .NET
Writing and compiling code using the .NET Core CLI tool
Writing and compiling code using Microsoft Visual Studio 2017
Writing and compiling code using Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Managing source code with GitHub