C# 4 and .NET 4

382 ❘ ChaPTer 16 visuAl studiO 2010
figure 16-8
As you can see, you have a C# program that does not do anything yet but contains the basic items required
in any C# executable program: a namespace and a class that contains the Main() method, which is
the program’s entry point. (Strictly speaking, the namespace is not necessary, but it would be very bad
programming practice not to declare one.) This code is all ready to compile and run, which you can do
immediately by pressing the F5 key or by selecting the Debug menu and choosing Start. However, before
you do that, add the following line of code — to make your application actually do something!
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Hello from all the authors of Professional C#");
}
If you compile and run the project, you will see a console window that stays onscreen barely long enough
to read the message. The reason this happens is that Visual Studio, remembering the settings you specified
when you created the project, arranged for it to be compiled and run as a console application. Windows
then realizes that it has to run a console application but does not have a console window to run it from.
Therefore, Windows creates a console window and runs the program. As soon as the program exits,
Windows recognizes that it does not need the console window anymore and promptly removes it. That is all
very logical but does not help you very much if you actually want to look at the output from your project!
A good way to prevent this problem is to insert the following line just before the Main() method returns in
your code:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Hello from all the folks at Wrox Press");
Console.ReadLine();
}
That way, your code will run, display its output, and come across the Console.ReadLine() statement, at
which point it will wait for you to press the Return (or Enter) key before the program exits. This means that
the console window will hang around until you press Return.
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