3.4. System Data Types and C# Shorthand Notation

Like any programming language, C# defines an intrinsic set of fundamental data types, which are used to represent local variables, member variables, return values, and parameters. Unlike other programming languages, however, these keywords are much more than simple compiler-recognized tokens. Rather, the C# data type keywords are actually shorthand notations for full-blown types in the System namespace. Table 3-4 lists each system data type, its range, the corresponding C# keyword, and the type's compliance with the common language specification (CLS).

NOTE

Recall from Chapter 1 that CLS-compliant .NET code can be used by any managed programming language. If you expose non–CLS-compliant data from ...

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