C# is a powerful, open-source programming language that you can use for developing a wide range of applications. C# was initially only available on Windows but was later ported to Linux. Today, C# is fully supported not only on Windows but on Linux and macOS too.
Writing C# code on Linux is fun and productive, plus, there are plenty of open-source tools to enhance your workflow.
1. .NET Framework
.NET (Dotnet) Framework is a set of development tools that provide a structured and comprehensive model for developing C# applications.
The framework comes with a class library and runtime that allows you to write a wide range of applications such as web APIs, desktop applications, etc.
Apart from C#, .NET also supports languages such as F# and Visual Basic. You need the .NET framework to run and compile C# code. Fortunately, it is easy toinstall .NET on your Linux machine.
Download:.NET Framework(Free)
2. Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code, popularly known as VS Code, is a powerful text editor for developing software using programming languages like C#.
To enhance your C# workflow on VS Code, all you need to do is install the C# extension, the Copilot extension from GitHub, and a few other extensions of your choice.
VS Code is lightweight, powerful, and cross-platform, so you’ll get the same great experience whether you are on Linux, Windows, or macOS.
Some of the advantages of VS Code include:
You might also be interested to know that apart from VS Code, there are other powerful text editors that you can use to develop C# code on Linux. Some examples include Rider, Sublime Text, and Vim.
Download:VS Code(Free)
3. Microsoft SQL Server
Most real-world applications need to persist data in some form. Relational database systems allow you to do just that.
Microsoft SQL Server is a powerful comprehensive relational database management system that can handle small to large-scale database operations.
You can run Microsoft SQL Server as a standalone application natively on Linux. Another more versatile approach is to run an SQL server as a Docker container. Running an SQL server within Docker provides lots of flexibility, and can simplify the process of deploying and managing your applications in production.
C# also supports other database systems such as SQLite, MySQL, andPostgreSQL, all of which are readily available on Linux.
Download:SQL Server(Free)
4. Azure Data Studio
Still on databases, Azure Data Studio is a GUI-based tool for managing and querying your database. Most relational databases including Microsoft SQL Server come with a command-line interface. However, in most cases using the GUI offers a better way of interacting with your database.
You can use Azure Data Studio to connect to different relational database types both locally on your PC and remotely in the cloud.
you’re able to also run single queries or complicated scripts within Azure Data Studio. Most importantly, Azure Data Studio is highly extensible and is useful both during development and for interacting with data on systems that are in production.
Azure Data Studio is easy to install and set upon Linux.
Download:Azure Data Studio(Free)
Docker allows you to package and run applications and their dependencies in secure and isolated containers.
Docker is ideal for both testing and deploying software in production. It provides you with a consistent way to run and distribute software regardless of the platform you are on.
Apart from testing and deploying software, Docker allows you to easily run the software needed for C# in a good manner.
Download:Docker(Free)
6. VirtualBox
Last but not least is VirtualBox, a powerful, open-source virtualization tool ideal for setting up virtual machines on your PC.
Although C# is fully supported on Linux, certain types of applications—for example, Native Windows desktop applications—are only fully supported on Windows. To overcome such scenarios, you might still need a Windows PC on some occasions.
Also, some other applications such as Visual Studio or SQL Server Management Studio are not readily available on Linux. In such cases, you might wish torun a Windows VM within your Linux environmentutilizing VirtualBox.
With a Windows VM on Linux, you’re able to develop other kinds of applications such as WFP, or use tools that are otherwise not natively available on Linux.
Download:VirtualBox(Free)
C# Is Fully Supported on Linux
There are so many tools on Linux to enhance your C# development workflow. By harnessing the strengths of Linux distros for developers, C#, and other open-source tools you can create powerful, high-performance applications for a wide range of systems.
