Programming

You should already know that in C# all types derive from System.Object and that C# supports both reference types (which are allocated onto the heap) as well as value types (primitives, enum, struct, etc. which are allocated onto the stack). One of the key differences between value types and references types is that when you …

.Net Tips – always override ValueType.Equals Read More »

As you might know already, an object is immutable if its state doesn’t change once it has been created. In C# the most used immutable type is string, this means every time you modify the value of a string variable you are actually creating a new string object and updating the reference of the variable …

.Net Tips – making a serializable immutable struct Read More »

enum is a tremendously useful structure in C#, but when defining a new enum there is one thing you should always ask yourself: What should the default value be for my enum? The problem with default value is that enum is really an int underneath, and as do all integers in C# an enum has …

.Net Tips – marking the default enum value ‘Undefined’ Read More »

If you’re reading this then you should already know what an enum is in C# and that the underlying type of an enum element is int and you can convert between int and enum using casting: However, sometimes you want to convert an enum element to and from strings instead of ints because: they’re more …

.Net Tips – converting between Enum and string Read More »

Runtime type conversion is something we all have to do from time to time, and in C#, type conversion is usually done using either the as keyword or casting. Here’s a quick glance of how the two approaches differ: Null reference Conversion failure User-defined conversion Performance as Null Null Ignored Fast casting Null Exception Used …

.Net Tips – using as vs casting in C# Read More »