C# in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Reading a Quick-Reference Entry

Each quick-reference entry contains quite a bit of information. The sections that follow describe the structure of a quick-reference entry, explaining what information is available, where it is found, and what it means. While reading the descriptions that follow, you will find it helpful to flip through the reference section itself to find examples of the features being described.

Type Name, Namespace, Assembly, Type Category, and Flags

Each quick-reference entry begins with a four-part title that specifies the name, namespace (followed by the assembly in parentheses), and type category of the type, and may also specify various additional flags that describe the type. The type name appears in bold at the upper left of the title. The namespace and assembly appear, in smaller print, in the lower left, below the type name.

The upper-right portion of the title indicates the type category of the type (class, delegate, enum, interface, or struct). The class category may include modifiers such as sealed or abstract.

In the lower-right corner of the title you may find a list of flags that describe the type. The possible flags and their meanings are as follows:

ECMA

The type is part of the ECMA CLI specification.

serializable

The type, or a supertype, implements System.Runtime.Serialization.ISerializable or has been flagged with the System.Serializable attribute.

marshal by reference

This class, or a superclass, derives from System.MarshalByRefObject ...