C# is of course a completely cross-platform programming language. The most amazing thing is that C# is currently the only programming language besides C++ that can develop for mobile and PC terminals. In addition to the development of the Windows platform, C# has also handled the development of iOS/Android. It does not need to develop for each platform separately like C++.

From Mono, C# does not seem to be truly cross-platform

C# was not cross-platform from the beginning. Unlike Java/Python/JavaScript/PHP, these programming languages ​​are cross-platform from the beginning. C# is not like this. C# was not designed to be cross-platform.

Anders Helsberg, the father of C# and also the father of Delphi, designed C# as a programming tool exclusively for the Windows platform. Therefore, Microsoft did not officially make it cross-platform like Java.

Xamarin hosted an open source project called Mono, the purpose of which was to create an open source

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tool, including a C# compiler and a common language architecture. Unlike Microsoft's official

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Framework, the Mono project can run not only on Windows platforms, but also on Linux, Unix, macOS, FreeBSD, Solaris, etc., and even on gaming platforms such as Playstation 3, Wii and XBox 360.

Later, Microsoft acquired Xamarin, and Microsoft officially promoted the open source of C# and

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. Microsoft also officially launched the macOS version of visual studio, which is actually based on Xamarin. This can be said to be Microsoft's official support for the cross-platform and open source of Microsoft's core development system.

C# can be used in the following frameworks

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Core (all platforms, fully cross-platform support for Linux, Windows, macOS), mainly used in server-side development, Web application development, and enterprise system development, which is what C++/Java/PHP/Python and other programming languages ​​are best at;

Windows desktop program development, the main technology is the WPF framework, this level of technology is what C++ is best at;

The main scripting language of the Unity game engine can be used to develop various games on PC, Sony, Xbox and other game platforms. Unity is one of the most mature game engines. At present, the strongest engine besides Unity is the Unreal Unreal Engine, and the main programming language of the Unreal Engine is C++. Relatively speaking, C#'s lower learning threshold has also made Unity quickly develop into one of the most popular game engines;

Develop native mobile applications. In addition to the former Windows phone platform, Microsoft has realized iOS/Android native application development through Xamarin's technology, and at the same time also supports macOS application development;

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Standard uses .net standard to create libraries in all the above applications.

Finally, let's summarize the characteristics of cross-platform programming languages: Java is written once and run everywhere, C++ is written once and compiled for a specific platform, and C# is essentially just a programming language. To achieve cross-platform, you need to choose different technology stacks and different frameworks.

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