.NET Tutorial | Hello World in 10 minutes

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Intro
Download and install
Create your app
Run your app
Edit your code
Next steps

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Intro

Purpose

Install .NET and create your first application.

Prerequisites

None.

Time to Complete

10 minutes

Scenario

A simple application written in C# that prints Hello, World! to the console.

Download and install

To start building .NET apps, download and install the .NET SDK (Software Development Kit).

Download .NET SDK (64-bit)
32-bit download

Install .NET Core SDK

Download .NET SDK

You need to install additional dependencies on older versions of Windows. See Windows 7 / Vista / 8.1 / Server 2008 R2 / Server 2012 R2 for more information.

Check everything installed correctly

Once you've installed, open a new command prompt and run the following command:

Once you've installed, open a new terminal and run the following command:

Command prompt

dotnet

If the command runs, printing out information about how to use dotnet, you're good to go.

Got an error?

If you receive a 'dotnet' is not recognized as an internal or external command error, make sure you opened a new command prompt. If you can't resolve the issue, use the I ran into an issue button to get help fixing the problem.

Create your app

In your command prompt, run the following commands:

In your terminal, run the following commands:

Command prompt

dotnet new console -o myApp
cd myApp

The dotnet command creates a new application of type console for you. The -o parameter creates a directory named myApp where your app is stored, and populates it with the required files. The cd myApp command puts you into the newly created app directory.

The main file in the myApp folder is Program.cs. By default, it already contains the necessary code to write "Hello World!" to the Console.

Program.cs

using System;

namespace myApp
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
        }
    }
}

Run your app

In your command prompt, run the following command:

In your terminal, run the following command:

Command prompt

dotnet run

Congratulations, you've built and run your first .NET app!

Edit your code

Open Program.cs in any text editor, such as Notepad, and add a new line of code below the one that prints "Hello World!", like the following:

Program.cs (shortened for clarity)

Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
Console.WriteLine("The current time is " + DateTime.Now);

Save the Program.cs file, and run your code again.

Command prompt

dotnet run

Next steps

Congratulations, you've built and run your first .NET app!

Keep learning

If you want to keep learning general .NET skills, try our Introduction to C# tutorials.

Tutorial: Numbers in C#

Build a web app

Build your first web app using the same tools you just installed

Try machine learning

Build a simple prediction model to classify sentiment

Get an editor

Get your .NET dev tools setup with the right .NET editor for you

Let's get started

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.NET Tutorial - Hello World in 10 minutes

Intro

Purpose

Prerequisites

Time to Complete

Scenario

Download and install

Check everything installed correctly

Got an error?

Create your app

Run your app

Edit your code

Next steps

Keep learning

Build a web app

Try machine learning

Get an editor

Report an issue

Provide feedback