A Read-Eval-Print-Loop (REPL) is an interactive program that reads your input, evaluates it, prints the result, and loops back to the beginning. It’s a great way to experiment with a programming language and an excellent method for learning a new language. C# has many REPLs; some are web-based, others are desktop applications, and some are command-line tools. There’s .NET Fiddle, Try .NET, the popular LINQPad, the built-in csi.exe, and many more.
But there’s one C# REPL that I find above all others. It runs in your terminal, is easy to install, and easy to use. The included Intellisense, documentation and suggested overloads increases productivity. It supports theming, and when I use this REPL, I almost feel like I’m coding in a regular IDE. I always have a terminal open, so it’s very convenient to have such an advanced C# REPL in it, available in a few keystrokes.
The C# REPL I’m talking about is simply called… C# REPL. It’s an open-source project created by Will Fuqua, and as of today, it has over 2k GitHub stars. It is distributed as a .NET tool and is cross-platform. In this blog post, I’m going to show you how to install it on Windows Terminal, but you can install it on any terminal emulator you prefer.
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