C# Alarm Console Program

This is an alarm program. It sets off an audible alarm after a certain number of minutes. This can be useful for timers, such as those required in cooking. It uses the Console in the C# language. Simplicity is key.

This example C# console program sets off an alarm after a number of minutes.

Program

To begin, this is the entire alarm console program. The program simply asks for the number of minutes. It converts this to a string with the int.Parse method. Then, it waits sixty seconds using Thread.Sleep for each minute, and writes some characters to the screen. Finally it beeps ten times.

Example alarm program [C#]

using System;
using System.Threading;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
	// Ask for minutes.
	Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
	Console.WriteLine("Minutes?");
	string minutes = Console.ReadLine();
	int mins = int.Parse(minutes);
	for (int i = 0; i < mins; i++)
	{
	    // Sixty seconds is one minute.
	    Thread.Sleep(1000 * 60);
	    // Write line.
	    Console.WriteLine(new string('X', 30));
	}
	// Beep ten times.
	for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
	{
	    Console.Beep();
	}
	Console.WriteLine("[Done]");
	Console.Read();
    }
}

Summary

This program is extremely simple. The simplicity makes it easy to maintain and understand but not very fancy to use. For common tasks that require a timer, this program can be useful. Obviously, a more elaborate solution could be found using Windows Forms and sound effects.