C# Comments

In this tutorial, we will learn about C# comments, different style of comments, and why and how to use them in a program.

Comments can be used to clarify C# code, and to make it more readable. It can likewise be used to prevent execution when testing alternative code.

Comments are used in a program to assist us with understanding a piece of code. They are human readable words planned to make the code readable. Comments are totally disregarded by the compiler.

In C#, there are 3 types of comments:

1. Single Line Comments (/)
2. Multi Line Comments (/*/)
3. XML Comments (/)

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Single Line Comments

Single line comments start with a double slash/. The compiler overlooks everything after//to the end of the line. For instance,

int a = 5 + 7; // Adding 5 and 7

Here, Adding 5 and 7 is the comment.

Example 1: Using single line comment

// Hello World Program
using System;

namespace HelloWorld
{
	class Program
	{
		public static void Main(string[] args)  // Execution Starts from Main method
		{
			// Prints Hello World
			Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
		}
	}
}

The above program contains 3 single line comments:

// Hello World Program
// Execution Starts from Main method

What’s more,

// Prints Hello World

Single line comments can be written in a different line or alongside the codes in same line. Nonetheless, it is recommended to use comments in a different line.

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Multi Line Comments

Multi line comments start with/* and ends with */. Multi line comments can length over various lines.

Example 2: Using multi line comment

/*
	This is a Hello World Program in C#.
	This program prints Hello World.
*/
using System;

namespace HelloWorld
{
	class Program
	{
		public static void Main(string[] args)
		{
			/* Prints Hello World     */
			Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
		}
	}
}

The above program contains 2 multi line comments:

/*
This is a Hello World Program in C#.
This program prints Hello World.
*/

What’s more,

/* Prints Hello World */

Here, we may have seen that it isn’t compulsory for a multi line comment to length over different lines./* … */can be used rather than single line comments.

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XML Documentation Comments

XML documentation comment is a special feature in C#. It begins with a triple slash///and is used to categorically describe a piece of code.. This is finished using XML tags inside a comment. These comments are at that point, used to create a different XML documentation file.

Example 3: Using XML documentation comment

/// <summary>
///  This is a hello world program.
/// </summary>

using System;

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

The XML comment used in the above program is

/// <summary>
/// This is a hello world program.
/// </summary>

The XML documentation (.xml file) generated will contain:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<doc>
	<assembly>
		<name>HelloWorld</name>
	</assembly>
	<members>
	</members>
</doc>

Visit XML Documentation Comments on the off chance that you are interested in learning more.

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Use Comments the Right Way

Comments are used to clarify portions of code however they ought not be overused.

For instance:

// Prints Hello World
Console.WriteLine("Hello World");

Using comment in the above example isn’t required. Clearly the line will print Hello World. Comments ought to be stayed away from in such cases.

• Instead comments ought to be used in the program to clarify complex algorithms and methods.

• Comments ought to be short and forthright rather than a long description.

• As a rule of thumb, it is smarter to clarify why rather than how, using comments.

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C# Introduction