C# Version History

C# was first introduced with .NET Framework 1.0 in the year 2002 and evolved much since then. The following table lists important features introduced in each version of C#:

Version	.NET Framework	Visual Studio	Important Features
C# 1.0	.NET Framework 1.0/1.1	Visual Studio .NET 2002	Basic features
C# 2.0	.NET Framework 2.0	Visual Studio 2005	Generics Partial types Anonymous methods Iterators Nullable types Private setters (properties) Method group conversions (delegates) Covariance and Contra-variance Static classes
C# 3.0	.NET Framework 3.0\3.5	Visual Studio 2008	Implicitly typed local variables Object and collection initializers Auto-Implemented properties Anonymous types Extension methods Query expressions Lambda expressions Expression trees Partial Methods
C# 4.0	.NET Framework 4.0	Visual Studio 2010	Dynamic binding (late binding) Named and optional arguments Generic co- and contravariance Embedded interop types
C# 5.0	.NET Framework 4.5	Visual Studio 2012/2013	Async features Caller information
C# 6.0	.NET Framework 4.6	Visual Studio 2013/2015	Expression Bodied Methods Auto-property initializer nameof Expression Primary constructor Await in catch block Exception Filter String Interpolation
C# 7.0	.NET Core 2.0	Visual Studio 2017	out variables Tuples Discards Pattern Matching Local functions Generalized async return types more..
C# 8.0	.NET Core 3.0	Visual Studio 2019	Readonly members Default interface methods Using declarations Static local functions Disposable ref structs Nullable reference types more..
C# 9.0	.NET 5.0	Visual Studio 2019	Records Init-only properties Top-level statements Init accessors and readonly fields With-expressions Value-based equality more..
C# 10.0	.NET 6.0	Visual Studio 2022	Record structs Global using directives File-scoped namespace declaration Extended Property Patterns Null Parameter Checking Constant interpolated strings Caller argument expression
C# 11.0	.NET 7.0	Visual Studio 2022 (v17.4)	Raw string literals Generic math support Generic attributes UTF-8 string literals List patterns File-local types Required members Auto-default structs ref fields and scoped ref Newlines in string interpolation
C# 12.0	.NET 8.0	Visual Studio 2022 (v17.8)	Primary constructors Collection expressions Inline arrays Optional parameters in lambda expressions ref readonly parameters Alias any type Experimental attribute Interceptors (preview)
C# 13.0	.NET 9.0	Visual Studio 2022 (v17.12)	params collections New lock object New escape sequence \e Implicit index access in object initializers ref and unsafe in async methods and iterators allows ref struct More partial members Overload resolution priority

Learn how to setup a development environment for C# in the next section.