The Howdy Glossary

A# (A sharp) is a programming language for the .NET Framework. It first appeared around 2001 with the goal of simplifying and modernizing application development, especially in system-related areas. A# has components that can directly reference hardware resources and perform low-level operations typical of operating systems or device drivers, making it well-suited for implementing system services or library routines requiring high-speed manipulation of data. The language is designed to be highly efficient and capable of addressing memory directly while providing type safety through verification during runtime on the Common Language Runtime. However, it has not seen widespread adoption outside of niche applications due to its tightly bound nature to specific hardware architectures and the complexities associated with systems development using .NET-based languages.