October 2008
Intermediate to advanced
784 pages
18h 11m
English
Structs are similar to classes in that they represent data structures that can contain data members and function members. However, unlike classes, structs are value types and do not require heap allocation. A variable of a struct type directly contains the data of the struct, whereas a variable of a class type contains a reference to the data, where the latter is known as an object.
Structs are particularly useful for small data structures that have value semantics. Complex numbers, points in a coordinate system, or key–value pairs in a dictionary are all good examples of structs. Key to these data structures is that they have few data members, they do not require use of inheritance or referential identity, and they can be conveniently ...