Is there any Java API sepc-like documentation for C#?

Question

I hope this is not a duplicate post, which I seriously doubt, but I don't seem to be able to find a similar post.

After a few months into programming with .NET/C#, it still bothers me that I can't find a C# documentation source that is as easily accessible as Java API spec or Objective-C. I am pretty sure MSDN has got something like that, but where is it? I know I can press F1 on a keyword inside Visual Studio, which would display the documentation about that keyword in a Web browser. But it is kind of slow. Is there anything better than that?

Answer 1

MSDN is definitely the way to go.

Personally I usually just search. For example, a search for Stream.Read msdn gets you straight to the right result.

You can browse as well of course... here's the class library "root" for .NET 4, for example.

Note that in some URLs you'll see things like "(v=VS9)" which indicates the version it's talking about (by Visual Studio release, with oddities like .95 for Silverlight). If you remove this bit entirely - including the brackets - you'll always get to the latest desktop framework version. There used to be an easy way of changing version within the page, but I haven't seen it recently :(

Personally I like the "lightweight" skin to MSDN, but that's your call.

Answer 2

C# keywords are here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/x53a06bb.aspx

In general, the C# topics are here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/kx37x362.aspx

And yes, the .NET library root is a little bit separated, since .NET is used not only for C#, but by other languages (VB, F#, C++) as well.