C# (C-Sharp) is a modern, object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft in the early 2000s. It is designed for building a wide range of applications on the Microsoft.NET platform. Here is an overview of the history of C# with its major versions:

1. C# 1.0 (2002):
– Released as part of the Microsoft.NET Framework in 2002.
– Introduced key features like garbage collection, properties, and events.
– Supported by Visual Studio.NET 2002.

2. C# 2.0 (2005):
– Released as part of the Visual Studio 2005 and .NET Framework 2.0.
– Introduced generics, partial classes, anonymous methods, and iterators.

3. C# 3.0 (2007):
– Released as part of Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5.
– Introduced language enhancements like LINQ (Language Integrated Query), lambda expressions, automatic properties, and extension methods.

4. C# 4.0 (2010):
– Released as part of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0.
– Introduced dynamic binding, named and optional arguments, and covariance and contravariance for generic types.

5. C# 5.0 (2012):
– Released as part of Visual Studio 2012 and .NET Framework 4.5.
– Introduced async and await keywords for asynchronous programming.

6. C# 6.0 (2015):
– Released as part of Visual Studio 2015 and .NET Framework 4.6.
– Introduced features like string interpolation, expression-bodied members, null-conditional operators, and static using directives.

7. C# 7.0 (2017):
– Released as part of Visual Studio 2017 and .NET Core 2.0.
– Introduced features like pattern matching, tuples, local functions, and ref locals and returns.

8. C# 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 (2017-2018):
– These minor updates introduced features like async main, default literal, in parameter, and non-trailing named arguments.

9. C# 8.0 (2019):
– Released as part of Visual Studio 2019 and .NET Core 3.0.
– Introduced features like nullable reference types, asynchronous streams, default interface members, and switch expressions.

10. C# 9.0 (2020):
– Released as part of Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and .NET 5.
– Introduced features like records, init-only setters, top-level statements, and pattern matching enhancements.

C# continues to evolve with new features and improvements being introduced in each version to make it a more versatile and efficient programming language for building modern applications on the Microsoft platform.