Foundational C# Microsoft Course: A Comprehensive Overview

What is the New Foundational C# with Microsoft Course?

Microsoft Learn’s Perspective

The Foundational C# Certification is completely free, globally available, and includes a full 35-hour C# training course hosted on Microsoft Learn.

freeCodeCamp’s Insight

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to C# programming, covering its core concepts, syntax, and practical application in software development. Through hands-on exercises and projects, you will learn the fundamentals of C#, including variables, data types, control structures, and object-oriented programming principles. By the end of this course, you will have gained the practical skills and knowledge needed to confidently leverage C# for building applications.

My Opinion

The “New Foundational C# with Microsoft” course offers a varied range of lessons that provide both theory as an introduction and practical exercises to apply the theory. It is free, you can go through it in your own pace and you get an official certificate when completing in successfully.

Why Pursue This Certification?

Thorough Knowledge Base

With a 35-hour training course on Microsoft Learn, this certification provides a thorough foundation of C#. From core concepts, syntax to practical software development applications – it’s all here.

A Credential You Can Showcase

Existing C# developers, here’s your chance to bolster your LinkedIn profile. -Display your commitment to continuous learning and expertise to potential employers and peers.

Global and Free

This certification is free and globally available, ensuring every developer across the globe can access and benefit from it.

A Comprehensive C# Journey

Partnering with freeCodeCamp, a renowned charity with a world-class learning platform, Microsoft developed a certification that truly stands out. By utilizing resources from Microsoft Learn, learners will undergo a thorough training program, capped off by an 80-question exam hosted on freeCodeCamp. Master foundational concepts including variables, data types, control structures, and more.

For Whom is it?

The course is mainly focused on building the foundation for new C# developers but also offers a good refresher for the intermediate ones. And my opinion is always if you want to get good or even be a expert in a field you have to build the foundation strong and also occasionally recap the basics!

Where to Get it From?

You can take the course freely at (New) Foundational C# with Microsoft Certification | freeCodeCamp.org. The course is completed with an 80-question questionnaire and upon successful completion you will receive a certificate certifying that you have learned the basics of C# both theoretically and with practical application.

How is the Course Structured?

Every chapter of the course is build similar. First you get theoretical knowledge delivered. Inbetween the several theoretical chapters there are guided exercises with which you can apply the theory in practical examples. Second to last in every chapter there are guided projects which demand to apply all the smaller examples and the theoretical knowledge in a bigger picture. Some of the chapters also contain challenge projects where you are given a task, you can try to implement by yourself and afterwards you can compare your work with a given solution. At the end there is always a knowledge check which includes questions about the previously learned.

What are the Chapters and What Do They Contain?

Introduction to C#
The course is structured in a way that you start off nice and easy with some basics. You write your first C# code with a Editor built in the browser using some variables, string formatting, basic operations and then build a little guided project with the knowledge you just acquired.
Setting Up Visual Studio Code
The next step is to setup a code editor and develop the next lectures of the course in that editor. After setting up Visual Studio Code the next phases of part 2 of the course involve adding decision logic to the code in the form of if, else and else if statements and using the foreach loop with Arrays. Also the keyword “Clean Code” comes into play the first time here by creating readable code and stick to conventions. And as always at the end of every stage you apply the newly learned in a guided project. Starting with this stage every chapter will also have a challenge project where you can demonstrate what you have learned so far.
Logic and Looping
Using boolean expressions for comparison, understanding the impact of variable scope, branching the flow of your code using switch-case construct, adding looping logic with for, do-while and while will be your topics in phase 3 of the New Foundational C# course.
Data Types and Methods
In the fourth chapter you will be introduced into some built-in and helper methods for converting data types, performing operations on arrays and for modifying the content of strings. Another topic in this chapter will address formatting alphanumeric data for presentation.
Building a Mini-Game
Chapter 5 will be especially exciting because here you will create your first mini-game in a challenge project. But first you will learn how to write methods and everything that comes with it, like parameters and return values.
Debugging and Exception Handling
When you write code there will be errors, exceptions and other inexplicable behavior whose source is not immediately obvious. Therefore at some point you will need to deal with the topics debugging and exception handling. But you are in luck as these topics are covered in this chapter.
Certification Exam
And finally the last barrier between you and your foundational C# certificate is the 80 multiple-choice questions exam. If you answer at least 70% of the questions correctly you earned yourself a certificate.

Conclusion

As an intermediate C# developer and enthusiast who always likes to learn new things but also loves to strengthen the foundation on which those new things are build I was able to experience this course from the perspective of a C# beginner and verify that the quality of the content fits a developer who just starts playing around with C# and actually will get value out of that course. If you are already familiar with C# but not at an expert level I also recommend to at least skim through the course. There is always something which can be learned. At least it is a nice way of getting some more programming experience.