How does c# keywords work?

Question

Hi there, Obviously as indicated by my question I'm fairly new to programming and seeking some clarification. Now my question is why are keywords not called by class name? For example if I wanted to use the writeline method I first have to specify the namespace it belongs to(system) and then the class it belongs to (Console). Why are keywords exempt from this? why not ClassName.if(){} and instead just if(){}?

Afzaal Ahmad Zeeshan · Answer

That is because C# follows a strict object-oriented way of development. You cannot skip this object-oriented design and write global functions and variables like you can do in C++ or JavaScript, etc. In C#, your programs are a bunch of objects, communicating with each other. For example, the point you mention, can be done in C++ quite easily. void sayHello() { std::cout "Hello!" } int main() { sayHello(); } Or, you can also create a class and add this function in that class, and call it from there. But why is that possible? Because in C++, there is no concept of assemblies, (there is a concept of libraries, but that is a bit different thing when it comes to C#). In C++ you can have global functions and variables. In C# however, you must have an assembly that gets generated following the name of the namespace in the project. Then inside that namespace has to be a main entry point, which C# defines to be as, public static void Main (string[] args) { // Your code goes here... } Everything outside this has to follow an object-oriented fashion. That is why C# is limited to have this behavior. Another major reason is, because C# as a language allows you to create your own behaviors in the program, you can create your own functions, inheritence, templates, etc. C# gives you a way of doing that, and then language takes care of executing the program. Now, let us discuss why not the keywords. Because, keywords are the part of the program. You cannot override the behavior of a keyword. You cannot change what an if...else block, or what a try...catch block does. There is an operator overriding, function overloading, but they are sugar coated and provide a syntactical sugar coating around underlying "ugly" parts of the program. Also, the way a function is executed, is a part of the object, but the way an if condition is evaluated is the part of the programming language. So, I recommend that you study the basics of an object-oriented programming language and study how these common things come into play.