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I recently saw some questions on SO that asked if you could make a Hello World program without using any semi colons using C#. The challenge is to do this again, but in the shortest amount of code possible!

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    \$\begingroup\$ I assume this is meant to be a language-specific challenge? Otherwise there are plenty of languages where this task would be trivial. (For example, 'Hello World' is a valid GolfScript program that prints Hello World. Although HQ9+ will easily beat it.) \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 17, 2012 at 14:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ @llmari Sorry, yes, I have updated question. I would have tagged it C# but it doesn't exist and I don't have the rep to create it, thanks. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 17, 2012 at 15:41

8 Answers 8

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C# 85 chars

class H{static void Main(){if(System.Console.Out.WriteAsync("Hello, world!")is H){}}}
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  • \$\begingroup\$ Which .NET version is this? .NET 4 doesn't seem to contain a definition for TextWriter.WriteAsync(). \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 26, 2012 at 6:45
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    \$\begingroup\$ @primo .NET 4.5 does. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 26, 2012 at 10:58
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C#, 76

class X{static void Main(){if(System.Console.Write("Hello, World!")is X){}}}

I tried this in my VS2012 and it works just fine, even though it is quite a surprise that you can apply the is operator to void...

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C# (114)

class M{static void Main(){if(typeof(System.Console).GetMethods()[78].Invoke(null,new[]{"Hello, world!"})is M){}}}

Note that the proper index for Write(string)/WriteLine(string) may be different on your system. However, since there are only 106 methods total, I'm almost certain either Write(string) or WriteLine(string) will be a two-digit index number on every system, so the character count should be generally valid.

Demo: http://ideone.com/5npky (Write method is apparently index 23 here)

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This solution is brilliant. +1 \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 22, 2012 at 10:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ I also thought is was ironic that after putting it together, it came out exactly 1 character shorter than yours :) \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 23, 2012 at 17:25
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    \$\begingroup\$ Can save three characters by changing null to 0. Get a nice character count of 111 :) \$\endgroup\$ Commented Aug 3, 2013 at 9:02
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115 Bytes

class H{static void Main(){if(((System.Action)(()=>System.Console.Write("Hello, world!"))).DynamicInvoke()is H){}}}

It's likely possible to produce something a bit shorter, but I'm pretty sure that you're going to need make some sort of asynchronous call.

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C# 96 95 94 chars

A bit of a cheat, but works if you have IronRuby installed:

class P{static void Main(){if(IronRuby.Ruby.CreateEngine().Execute("puts'Hello World'")>1){}}}
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    \$\begingroup\$ You can save 1 char by replacing == with a one-character comparison operator. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 19, 2012 at 9:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ @PeterTaylor I've updated the code. Thanks for this great suggestion! \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 19, 2012 at 9:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ I also removed the space between puts and the string. puts'Hello World' is valid ruby code \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 19, 2012 at 9:49
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C# 33 chars

using .NET 8/9 csproj like this: 
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk"> <PropertyGroup> <OutputType>Exe</OutputType> <TargetFramework>net9.0</TargetFramework> <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings> </PropertyGroup> <ItemGroup> <Using Include="System.Console" Static="True"/> </ItemGroup>

code:

if(Write("Hello, World!")is GC){}
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C# 4 chars

using .NET 8/9 csproj like this: 
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk"> <PropertyGroup> <OutputType>Exe</OutputType> <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework> <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings> <Nullable>enable</Nullable> </PropertyGroup> <ItemGroup> <PackageReference Include="HelloWorldLib" Version="1.0.0" /> </ItemGroup> <ItemGroup> <Using Include="HelloWorldLib.C" Static="True"/> </ItemGroup> </Project>

where HelloWorldLib is previously created Nuget Package which contains only one class like this:

using System.Runtime.CompilerServices; namespace HelloWorldLib; public class C { public static object F; [ModuleInitializer] public static void M1() { Console.WriteLine("Hello World"); } }

HelloWorldLib's csproj: 

<PropertyGroup> <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework> <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings> <Nullable>enable</Nullable> <GeneratePackageOnBuild>true</GeneratePackageOnBuild> </PropertyGroup>

it is possible to create a C# program with just 4 characters:

_=F;

(A module initializer is executed at, or sometime before, first access to any static field or first invocation of any method defined in the module. link)

Note: it is probably possible to write a source generator and put it in a package that would generate Program.cs with Console.WriteLine("Hello World"), that would make a C# program 0 chars :)

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C# 0 chars

using .NET 8 csproj like this: 
 <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk"> <PropertyGroup> <OutputType>Exe</OutputType> <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework> </PropertyGroup> <ItemGroup> <PackageReference Include="HelloWorld.SourceGen" Version="1.0.0" /> </ItemGroup> </Project>

where HelloWorld.SourceGen is previously created Nuget Package which contains Source generator like this:

using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis; namespace Generator; [Generator] public class Class1 : IIncrementalGenerator { public void Initialize(IncrementalGeneratorInitializationContext context) { context.RegisterPostInitializationOutput(ctx => ctx.AddSource("Hello.g.cs", "Console.WriteLine(\"Hello World\");")); } }

HelloWorld.SourceGencsproj: 

 <PropertyGroup> <TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework> <LangVersion>latest</LangVersion> <GeneratePackageOnBuild>true</GeneratePackageOnBuild> <PackageId>HelloWorld.SourceGen</PackageId> <Version>1.0.0</Version> <IncludeBuildOutput>false</IncludeBuildOutput> </PropertyGroup> <ItemGroup> <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Analyzers" Version="3.3.3"> <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets> <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets> </PackageReference> <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp" Version="4.3.1"> <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets> </PackageReference> </ItemGroup> <ItemGroup> <None Include="$(OutputPath)\$(AssemblyName).dll" Pack="true" PackagePath="analyzers/dotnet/cs" Visible="false" /> </ItemGroup> </Project>

it is possible to create an empty C# program and after execution "Hello World" will be printed.

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