C# School Ebook: From Zero to Intermediate in 8 WeeksLearning C# in eight weeks is an achievable goal with a focused plan, practical exercises, and consistent practice. This ebook-style guide is designed for students and self-learners who start with little or no programming background and want to reach an intermediate level in C# using clear explanations, examples, and projects that build on one another.
Why C#?
C# is a modern, object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft. It’s widely used for desktop applications with .NET, web backends with ASP.NET Core, game development with Unity, and cross-platform mobile apps with .NET MAUI. Learning C# gives you transferable skills across many areas of software development.
How this ebook is organized
The book is structured into eight weekly modules. Each week contains:
- Concepts to learn
- Practical examples with code snippets
- Short exercises
- One mini-project or challenge to solidify skills
At the end of the ebook, you’ll find answers to exercises, a recommended reading list, and tips for next steps (advanced topics, tools, and career paths).
Week 1 — Foundations: Getting started with C# and .NET
Goals:
- Install .NET SDK and a code editor (Visual Studio / VS Code)
- Understand the anatomy of a C# program
- Write, compile, and run simple programs
Topics:
- Setup: .NET SDK, editors, creating projects with dotnet new
- The Program class, Main method, namespaces
- Variables, data types (int, double, bool, string), basic I/O (Console.WriteLine, Console.ReadLine)
- Operators and expressions, simple arithmetic, string interpolation
Example:
using System; class Program { static void Main() { Console.WriteLine("Hello, C# learner!"); Console.Write("Enter your name: "); string name = Console.ReadLine(); Console.WriteLine($"Welcome, {name}!"); } } Exercises:
- Create a calculator that adds, subtracts, multiplies, and divides two numbers from user input.
- Write a program that converts Celsius to Fahrenheit.
Mini-project:
- Build a simple quiz that asks 5 fixed questions and scores the user.
Week 2 — Control flow and collections
Goals:
- Master conditional statements and loops
- Learn basic collections: arrays, List
Topics:
- if, else if, else, switch
- while, do-while, for, foreach
- Arrays, Lists, basic List operations (Add, Remove, Count)
- Introduction to error handling with try/catch
Example:
var numbers = new List<int> {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}; int sum = 0; foreach (var n in numbers) sum += n; Console.WriteLine($"Sum: {sum}"); Exercises:
- Implement a number-guessing game using loops and random numbers.
- Create and sort an array of integers.
Mini-project:
- Build a simple task manager console app: add tasks, list tasks, mark done, remove tasks.
Week 3 — Methods, parameters, and basic debugging
Goals:
- Break code into methods for modularity
- Understand parameter passing and return values
- Use debugging tools and write unit-testable code
Topics:
- Defining methods, method overloading, optional parameters
- Value types vs reference types
- Basic debugging in Visual Studio/VS Code: breakpoints, watch, step-over/into
- Writing simple unit tests with xUnit or NUnit (setup and a few test cases)
Example:
int Add(int a, int b) => a + b; Console.WriteLine(Add(2, 3)); // 5 Exercises:
- Refactor the calculator from Week 1 into methods.
- Write tests for a method that checks whether a string is a palindrome.
Mini-project:
- Create a small library (class) for operations on a shopping list and write unit tests for it.
Week 4 — Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) basics
Goals:
- Understand classes, objects, properties, and methods
- Learn encapsulation and constructors
Topics:
- Defining classes and creating objects
- Properties (auto-properties), access modifiers (public, private, protected)
- Constructors, read-only fields, static members
- ToString override and simple composition
Example:
class Person { public string Name { get; set; } public int Age { get; set; } public Person(string name, int age) => (Name, Age) = (name, age); public override string ToString() => $"{Name}, {Age}"; } Exercises:
- Create a Book class and instantiate several books.
- Implement methods to update and display book info.
Mini-project:
- Build a simple library system to add, search, and list books (console-based).
Week 5 — Advanced OOP: inheritance, interfaces, and polymorphism
Goals:
- Use inheritance to share behavior
- Apply interfaces and abstract classes
- Understand polymorphism and virtual/override
Topics:
- Base and derived classes, protected members
- Abstract classes vs interfaces
- Virtual methods, overriding, and the is/as operators
- Dependency inversion basics (constructor injection)
Example:
abstract class Animal { public abstract void Speak(); } class Dog : Animal { public override void Speak() => Console.WriteLine("Woof"); } Exercises:
- Model a vehicle hierarchy with Car, Bike, Truck classes.
- Create an interface ILogger and implement ConsoleLogger and FileLogger.
Mini-project:
- Build a simple zoo simulation where animals perform actions polymorphically.
Week 6 — Collections in depth, LINQ, and generics
Goals:
- Use advanced collection types and LINQ for concise data queries
- Learn generics for reusable code
Topics:
- Dictionaries, HashSet, Queue, Stack
- Introduction to generics: generic classes and methods
- LINQ basics: Where, Select, OrderBy, GroupBy, FirstOrDefault
- Deferred execution and IEnumerable vs IList
Example:
var people = new List<Person> { new Person("Alice", 30), new Person("Bob", 22) }; var adults = people.Where(p => p.Age >= 18).OrderBy(p => p.Name); foreach (var a in adults) Console.WriteLine(a); Exercises:
- Use LINQ to group a list of words by their first letter.
- Implement a generic Pair
Mini-project:
- Build a contacts manager supporting search, group-by, and simple filtering using LINQ.
Week 7 — Asynchronous programming and file I/O
Goals:
- Understand async/await and tasks
- Read from and write to files
Topics:
- Task, Task
, async methods, await, exception handling in async methods - File I/O with System.IO: File.ReadAllTextAsync, File.WriteAllTextAsync, streams
- CancellationToken basics and simple cancellation patterns
- Intro to HTTP calls with HttpClient and async I/O
Example:
async Task<string> DownloadAsync(string url) { using var client = new HttpClient(); return await client.GetStringAsync(url); } Exercises:
- Convert a synchronous file-processing program to async.
- Write a program that fetches JSON from a URL and displays a parsed field.
Mini-project:
- Create an async logger that writes messages to a file without blocking the main thread.
Week 8 — Building a complete intermediate project and next steps
Goals:
- Combine what you’ve learned into a larger project
- Learn about project structure, NuGet packages, and basic deployment
Topics:
- Project organization: multiple classes, folders, and namespaces
- Using NuGet packages and reading package docs
- Simple configuration with appsettings.json
- Preparing for deployment or sharing your app (creating a single-file publish, producing a DLL, or sharing source)
Project suggestion (console-to-API evolution):
- Phase 1 (console): Build a Task/ToDo application with persistence to a local JSON file. Features: create, list, update, delete tasks, search, and tagging.
- Phase 2 (optional): Wrap core logic into a class library and add a minimal ASP.NET Core Web API frontend to expose tasks over HTTP.
- Phase 3 (optional): Add a simple UI with Blazor or a Unity front-end for gamified task interaction.
Final exercises:
- Write documentation (README) for your project.
- Add unit tests for core business logic and run them.
Appendices
- Cheat sheet: common C# constructs, keywords, and idioms.
- Quick reference: LINQ method summaries and common patterns.
- Recommended tools: Visual Studio, VS Code, Rider; Git; Postman; dotnet CLI.
- Further reading: Microsoft docs, C# in Depth (Jon Skeet), .NET official docs, community tutorials.
- Job/portfolio tips: how to present projects, write clean READMEs, and prepare for interviews.
Sample schedule (daily time estimate)
- Weekdays: 1.5–2 hours/day (read + practice)
- Weekends: 3–5 hours (project work + review)
- Total: ~80–120 hours over 8 weeks
Tips for success
- Code daily — small, consistent practice beats occasional marathon sessions.
- Build projects — theory sinks in when applied.
- Use version control — commit often and write helpful messages.
- Learn to read error messages — debugging is a key skill.
- Pair learning with community: ask questions on forums, share progress.
This ebook gives a clear, step-by-step path from zero to intermediate C# in eight weeks, focusing on practical learning and progressively challenging projects to build confidence and real-world skills.
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