Beginning C# 2008 Objects: From Concept to Code

4.3. Method Invocation and Dot Notation

Now that you understand how methods are formally specified, how do we represent in code that a method is being invoked on an object? The name of the reference variable representing the object that the method is called on is followed with a dot (period) and then the method (function) call. For example:

// Instantiate a Student object.
Student x = new Student();

// A method is called on Student object x, asking it to
// register for course MATH 101, section 10.
x.RegisterForCourse("MATH 101", 10);  // This is a method call

Because we are using a dot to "glue" the reference variable to the method name, this is informally known as dot notation. And, in referring to the following logic, we can describe this ...