What are the correct version numbers for C#?

Question

What are the correct version numbers for C#? What came out when? Why can't I find any answers about C# 3.5?

This question is primarily to aid those who are searching for an answer using an incorrect version number, e.g. C# 3.5. The hope is that anyone failing to find an answer with the wrong version number will find this question and then search again with the right version number.

Answer 1

Comparing the MSDN articles "What's New in the C# 2.0 Language and Compiler" and "What's New in Visual C# 2005", it is possible to deduce that "C# major_version.minor_version" is coined according to the compiler's version numbering.

There is C# 1.2 corresponding to .NET 1.1 and VS 2003 and also named as Visual C# .NET 2003.

But further on Microsoft stopped to increment the minor version (after the dot) numbers or to have them other than zero, 0. Though it should be noted that C# corresponding to .NET 3.5 is named in msdn.microsoft.com as "Visual C# 2008 Service Pack 1".

There are two parallel namings: By major .NET/compiler version numbering and by Visual Studio numbering.

C# 2.0 is a synonym for Visual C# 2005

C# 3.0 corresponds (or, more correctly, can target) to:

• .NET 2.0 <==> Visual C# 2005
• .NET3.0 <==> Visual C# 2008
• .NET 3.5 <==> Visual C# 2008 Service Pack 1

Answer 2

C# language version history:

These are the versions of C# known about at the time of this writing:

• C# 1.0 released with .NET 1.0 and VS2002 (January 2002)
• C# 1.2 (bizarrely enough); released with .NET 1.1 and VS2003 (April 2003). First version to call Dispose on IEnumerators which implemented IDisposable. A few other small features.
• C# 2.0 released with .NET 2.0 and VS2005 (November 2005). Major new features: generics, anonymous methods, nullable types, iterator blocks
• C# 3.0 released with .NET 3.5 and VS2008 (November 2007). Major new features: lambda expressions, extension methods, expression trees, anonymous types, implicit typing (var), query expressions
• C# 4.0 released with .NET 4 and VS2010 (April 2010). Major new features: late binding (dynamic), delegate and interface generic variance, more COM support, named arguments, tuple data type and optional parameters
• C# 5.0 released with .NET 4.5 and VS2012 (August 2012). Major features: async programming, caller info attributes. Breaking change: loop variable closure.
• C# 6.0 released with .NET 4.6 and VS2015 (July 2015). Implemented by Roslyn. Features: initializers for automatically implemented properties, using directives to import static members, exception filters, element initializers, await in catch and finally, extension Add methods in collection initializers.
• C# 7.0 released with .NET 4.7 and VS2017 (March 2017) Major new features: tuples, ref locals and ref return, pattern matching (including pattern-based switch statements), inline out parameter declarations, local functions, binary literals, digit separators, and arbitrary async returns.
• C# 7.1 released with VS2017 v15.3 (August 2017) New features: async main, tuple member name inference, default expression, pattern matching with generics.
• C# 7.2 released with VS2017 v15.5 (November 2017) New features: private protected access modifier, Span<T>, aka interior pointer, aka stackonly struct, everything else.
• C# 7.3 released with VS2017 v15.7 (May 2018). New features: enum, delegate and unmanaged generic type constraints. ref reassignment. Unsafe improvements: stackalloc initialization, unpinned indexed fixed buffers, custom fixed statements. Improved overloading resolution. Expression variables in initializers and queries. == and != defined for tuples. Auto-properties' backing fields can now be targeted by attributes.
• C# 8.0 currently in preview. Expected new features: Non-nullable reference-types, IAsyncEnumerable<T> support, Ranges, and default interface methods.

In response to the OP's question:

What are the correct version numbers for C#? What came out when? Why can't I find any answers about C# 3.5?

There is no such thing as C# 3.5 - the cause of confusion here is that the C# 3.0 is present in .NET 3.5. The language and framework are versioned independently, however - as is the CLR, which is at version 2.0 for .NET 2.0 through 3.5, .NET 4 introducing CLR 4.0, service packs notwithstanding. The CLR in .NET 4.5 has various improvements, but the versioning is unclear: in some places it may be referred to as CLR 4.5 (this MSDN page used to refer to it that way, for example), but the Environment.Version property still reports 4.0.xxx.

More detailed information about the relationship between the language, runtime and framework versions is available on the C# in Depth site. This includes information about which features of C# 3.0 you can use when targeting .NET 2.0. (If anyone wants to bring all of the content into this wiki answer, they're welcome to.)

As of May 3, 2017, the C# Language Team created a history of C# versions and features on their github repo: Features Added in C# Language Versions. There is also a page that tracks upcoming and recently implemented language features.

Answer 3

The biggest problem when dealing with C#'s version numbers is the fact that it is not tied to a version of the .NET Framework, which it appears to be due to the synchronized releases between Visual Studio and the .NET Framework.

The version of C# is actually bound to the compiler, not the framework. For instance, in Visual Studio 2008 you can write C# 3.0 and target .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5. The C# 3.0 nomenclature describes the version of the code syntax and supported features in the same way that ANSI C89, C90, C99 describe the code syntax/features for C.

Take a look at Mono, and you will see that Mono 2.0 (mostly implemented version 2.0 of the .NET Framework from the ECMA specifications) supports the C# 3.0 syntax and features.