Professional C# and .NET, 2021st Edition

3Classes, Records, Structs, and Tuples

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Pass by value and by reference
• Classes and members
• Records
• Structs
• Enum types
• ref, in, and out keywords
• Tuples
• Deconstruction
• Pattern Matching
• Partial Types

CODE DOWNLOADS FOR THIS CHAPTER

The source code for this chapter is available on the book page at www.wiley.com. Click the Downloads link. The code can also be found at https://github.com/ProfessionalCSharp/ProfessionalCSharp2021 in the directory 1_CS/Types.

The code for this chapter is divided into the following major examples:

• TypesSample
• ClassesSample
• MathSample
• MethodSample
• ExtensionMethods
• RecordsSample
• StructsSample
• EnumSample
• RefInOutSample
• TuplesSample
• PatternMatchingSample

All the projects have nullable reference types enabled.

CREATING AND USING TYPES

So far, you've been introduced to some of the building blocks of the C# language, including variables, data types, and program flow statements, and you have seen a few short but complete programs that contain little more than top-level statements and a few methods. What you haven't seen yet is how to put all these elements together to form a longer program. The key to this lies in working with the types of .NET—classes, records, structs, and tuples, which are the subject of this chapter.

NOTE This chapter introduces the basic syntax associated with types. However, I assume that you are already familiar with the underlying principles of using classes—for example, that you know what ...