Beginning C# 2008 Objects: From Concept to Code

3.6. Instantiating Objects: A Closer Look

Different OO languages differ in terms of when an object is actually instantiated (created). In C#, when we declare a variable to be of a user-defined type, such as the following, we haven't actually created an object in memory yet:

Student y;

Instead we simply declared a reference variable of type Student named y. This reference variable has the potential to refer to a Student object, but it doesn't refer to one just yet. We have to take the distinct step of using a special C# operator, the new operator, to actually carve out a brand-new Student object in memory and to then associate the new object with the reference variable y, as follows:

y = new Student();

NOTE

Behind the scenes, what we're actually ...