These are the versions of C# known about at the time of this writing:

  • C# 1.0 released with .NET 1.0 and VS2002 (January 2002)
  • C# 1.2 (bizarrely enough); released with .NET 1.1 and VS2003 (April 2003). First version to call Dispose on IEnumerators which implemented IDisposable. A few other small features.
  • C# 2.0 released with .NET 2.0 and VS2005 (November 2005). Major new features: generics, anonymous methods, nullable types, iterator blocks
  • C# 3.0 released with .NET 3.5 and VS2008 (November 2007). Major new features: lambda expressions, extension methods, expression trees, anonymous types, implicit typing (var), query expressions
  • C# 4.0 released with .NET 4 and VS2010 (April 2010). Major new features: late binding (dynamic), delegate and interface generic variance, more COM support, named arguments, tuple data type and optional parameters
  • C# 5.0 released with .NET 4.5 and VS2012 (August 2012). Major features: async programming, caller info attributes. Breaking change: loop variable closure.
  • C# 6.0 released with .NET 4.6 and VS2015 (July 2015). Implemented by Roslyn. Features: initializers for automatically implemented properties, using directives to import static members, exception filters, element initializers, await in catch and finally, extension Add methods in collection initializers.
  • C# 7.0 released with .NET 4.7 and VS2017 (March 2017) Major new features: tuples, ref locals and ref return, pattern matching (including pattern-based switch statements), inline out parameter declarations, local functions, binary literals, digit separators, and arbitrary async returns.
  • C# 7.1 released with VS2017 v15.3 (August 2017) New features: async main, tuple member name inference, default expression, pattern matching with generics.
  • C# 7.2 released with VS2017 v15.5 (November 2017) New features: private protected access modifier, Span, aka interior pointer, aka stackonly struct, everything else.
  • C# 7.3 released with VS2017 v15.7 (May 2018). New features: enum, delegate and unmanaged generic type constraints. ref reassignment. Unsafe improvements: stackalloc initialization, unpinned indexed fixed buffers, custom fixed statements. Improved overloading resolution. Expression variables in initializers and queries. == and != defined for tuples. Auto-properties’ backing fields can now be targeted by attributes.
  • C# 8.0 currently in preview. Expected new features: Non-nullable reference-types, IAsyncEnumerable support, Ranges, and default interface methods.