Decompiling .NET assemblies

One of the best ways to learn how to code for .NET is to see how professionals do it. Most code editors have an extension for decompiling .NET assemblies. Visual Studio and Code can use the ILSpy extension. JetBrains Rider has a built-in IL Viewer tool.

Good Practice

You could decompile someone else’s assemblies for non-learning purposes, like copying their code for use in your own production library or application, but remember that you are viewing their intellectual property, so please respect that.

Creating a console app to decompile

Let’s create a console app that we can then decompile:

1. Use your preferred code editor to add a new Console App / console project named DotNetEverywhere to the Chapter02 solution. Make sure you target .NET 8.
2. Modify the project file to statically import the System.Console class in all C# files.
3. In Program.cs, delete the existing statements, and then add a...