A high-level modular definition of the semantics of C#

We propose a structured mathematical definition of the semantics of C# programs to provide a platform-independent view of the language for the C# programmer, which can also be used for a precise analysis of the ECMA [7] standard of the language. The definition takes care to reflect directly and faithfully – as much as possible without becoming inconsistent or incomplete – the descriptions in the C# standard to become comparable with the corresponding models for Java in [15] and to provide for implementors the possibility to check their basic design decisions against an accurate high-level model. In particular we will highlight some of the major differences between the ECMA standard and the implementation of the language in .NET.