Stream stream;  //input stream
String text;    //text form
ICatalog catalog;
IIonReader reader;

//create a text reader that automatically detect whether the stream is text/binary
reader = IonReaderBuilder.Build(stream);

//explicitly create a text reader
reader = IonReaderBuilder.Build(stream, new ReaderOptions {Format = ReaderFormat.Text});

//explicitly create a binary reader
reader = IonReaderBuilder.Build(stream, new ReaderOptions {Format = ReaderFormat.Binary});

//create a text reader that reads a string and uses a catalog
reader = IonReaderBuilder.Build(text, new ReaderOptions {Catalog = catalog});


/*reader semantics for
{
    number: 1,
    text: "hello world"
}
*/
Console.WriteLine(reader.MoveNext()); // Struct
reader.StepIn();
Console.WriteLine(reader.MoveNext()); // Int
Console.WriteLine(reader.CurrentFieldName); // "number"
Console.WriteLine(reader.IntValue());   // 1
Console.WriteLine(reader.MoveNext()); // String
Console.WriteLine(reader.CurrentFieldName); // "text"
Console.WriteLine(reader.StringValue());   // "hello world"
reader.StepOut();

Stream stream; //output stream
var stringWriter = new StringWriter();
IIonWriter writer;
ISymbolTable table1,table2;

//create a text writer that write to the stream.
writer = IonTextWriterBuilder.Build(new StreamWriter(stream));

//create a text writer that write to a stringwriter/builder.
writer = IonTextWriterBuilder.Build(stringWriter);

//create a binary writer using multiple symbol tables
writer = IonBinaryWriterBuilder.Build(stream, new []{table1,table2});

/*writer semantics for
{
    number: 1,
    text: "hello world"
}
*/
writer.StepIn(IonType.Struct);
writer.SetFieldName("number");
writer.WriteInt(1);
writer.SetFieldName("text");
writer.WriteString("hello world");
writer.StepOut();
writer.Finish();    //this is important

private class Experiment
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public DateTimeOffset StartDate { get; set; }
    public bool IsActive { get; set; }
    public byte[] SampleData { get; set; }
    public decimal Budget { get; set; }
    public ExperimentResult Result { get; set; }
    public int[] Outputs { get; set; }
}

var experiment = new Experiment
{
    Id = 233,
    Name = "Measure performance impact of boxing",
    StartDate = new DateTimeOffset(2018, 07, 21, 11, 11, 11, TimeSpan.Zero),
    IsActive = true,
    Result = ExperimentResult.Failure,
    SampleData = new byte[10],
    Budget = decimal.Parse("12345.01234567890123456789"),
    Outputs = new[] {1, 2, 3}
};

//Serialize an object to byte array
byte[] ionBytes = IonSerialization.Binary.Serialize(experiment);

//Deserialize a byte array to an object
Experiment deserialized = IonSerialization.Binary.Deserialize<Experiment>(ionBytes);

//Serialize an object to string
string text = IonSerialization.Text.Serialize(experiment, new IonTextOptions {PrettyPrint = true});

//Deserialize a string to an object
deserialized = IonSerialization.Text.Deserialize<Experiment>(text);

Console.WriteLine(text);
/* Output
{
  Id: 233,
  Name: "Boxing Perftest",
  Description: "Measure performance impact of boxing",
  StartDate: 2018-07-21T11:11:11.0000000+00:00,
  IsActive: true,
  SampleData: {{ AAAAAAAAAAAAAA== }},
  Budget: 12345.01234567890123456789,
  Result: 'Failure',
  Outputs: [
    1.2e0,
    2.3e0,
    3.1e0
  ]
}
*/