C#, SQL, and the Apple Ecosystem

Microsoft, facing a legal dispute with Sun Microsystems over its modified version of Java (J++), commissioned a new language led by Danish engineer Anders Hejlsberg, previously the architect of Turbo Pascal and Delphi, releasing C# alongside the .NET Framework between 2000 and 2002. C# closely mirrors Java's object-oriented, garbage-collected, virtual-machine-based design, running on the Common Language Runtime rather than the JVM, while adding features Java lacked at the time, such as properties, delegates, and later, powerful language-integrated query syntax known as LINQ. Originally Windows-only, .NET became fully open-source and cross-platform under the .NET Core initiative starting in 2016.