Language Specification Version 0 Notice

11.3Class and struct differences

• 
  Structs are value types (§11.3.1).
  
• 
  All struct types implicitly inherit from the class System.ValueType (§11.3.2).
  
• 
  Assignment to a variable of a struct type creates a copy of the value being assigned (§11.3.3).
  
• 
  The default value of a struct is the value produced by setting all value type fields to their default value and all reference type fields to null (§11.3.4).
  
• 
  Boxing and unboxing operations are used to convert between a struct type and object (§11.3.5).
  
• 
  The meaning of this is different for structs (§7.5.7).
  
• 
  Instance field declarations for a struct are not permitted to include variable initializers (§11.3.7).
  
• 
  A struct is not permitted to declare a parameterless instance constructor (§11.3.8).
  
• 
  A struct is not permitted to declare a destructor (§11.3.9).
  

11.3.1Value semantics

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, the latter known as an object. When a struct B contains an instance field of type A and A is a struct type, it is a compile-time error for A to depend on B. A struct X directly depends on a struct Y if X contains an instance field of type Y. Given this definition, the complete set of structs upon which a struct depends is the transitive closure of the directly depends on relationship. For example

struct Node
{
int data;

Node next; // error, Node directly depends on itself

}

is an error because Node contains an instance field of its own type. Another example

struct B { C c; }

struct C { A a; }

is an error because each of the types A, B, and C depend on each other.

With classes, it is possible for two variables to reference the same object, and thus possible for operations on one variable to affect the object referenced by the other variable. With structs, the variables each have their own copy of the data (except in the case of ref and out parameter variables), and it is not possible for operations on one to affect the other. Furthermore, because structs are not reference types, it is not possible for values of a struct type to be null.

Given the declaration

struct Point
{
public int x, y;

public Point(int x, int y) {

the code fragment

Point a = new Point(10, 10);
Point b = a;
a.x = 100;
System.Console.WriteLine(b.x);

outputs the value 10. The assignment of a to b creates a copy of the value, and b is thus unaffected by the assignment to a.x. Had Point instead been declared as a class, the output would be 100 because a and b would reference the same object.

11.3.2Inheritance

Struct types are never abstract and are always implicitly sealed. The abstract and sealed modifiers are therefore not permitted in a struct declaration.

Since inheritance isn’t supported for structs, the declared accessibility of a struct member cannot be protected or protected internal.

Function members in a struct cannot be abstract or virtual, and the override modifier is allowed only to override methods inherited from System.ValueType.

11.3.3Assignment

Similar to an assignment, when a struct is passed as a value parameter or returned as the result of a function member, a copy of the struct is created. A struct may be passed by reference to a function member using a ref or out parameter.

When a property or indexer of a struct is the target of an assignment, the instance expression associated with the property or indexer access must be classified as a variable. If the instance expression is classified as a value, a compile-time error occurs. This is described in further detail in §7.16.1.

11.3.4Default values

Referring to the Point struct declared above, the example

Point[] a = new Point[100];

initializes each Point in the array to the value produced by setting the x and y fields to zero.

The default value of a struct corresponds to the value returned by the default constructor of the struct (§4.1.2). Unlike a class, a struct is not permitted to declare a parameterless instance constructor. Instead, every struct implicitly has a parameterless instance constructor which always returns the value that results from setting all value type fields to their default value and all reference type fields to null.

Structs should be designed to consider the default initialization state a valid state. In the example

using System;

struct KeyValuePair

public KeyValuePair(string key, string value) {

the user-defined instance constructor protects against null values only where it is explicitly called. In cases where a KeyValuePair variable is subject to default value initialization, the key and value fields will be null, and the struct must be prepared to handle this state.

11.3.5Boxing and unboxing

A value of a class type can be converted to type object or to an interface type that is implemented by the class simply by treating the reference as another type at compile-time. Likewise, a value of type object or a value of an interface type can be converted back to a class type without changing the reference (but of course a run-time type check is required in this case).

Since structs are not reference types, these operations are implemented differently for struct types. When a value of a struct type is converted to type object or to an interface type that is implemented by the struct, a boxing operation takes place. Likewise, when a value of type object or a value of an interface type is converted back to a struct type, an unboxing operation takes place. A key difference from the same operations on class types is that boxing and unboxing copies the struct value either into or out of the boxed instance. Thus, following a boxing or unboxing operation, changes made to the unboxed struct are not reflected in the boxed struct.

When a struct type overrides a virtual method inherited from System.Object (such as Equals, GetHashCode, or ToString), invocation of the virtual method through an instance of the struct type does not cause boxing to occur. This is true even when the struct is used as a type parameter and the invocation occurs through an instance of the type parameter type. For example:

using System;

struct Counter
{
int value;

public override string ToString() {

value++;
return value.ToString();
}
}

class Program

{
static void Test() where T: new() {
T x = new T();
Console.WriteLine(x.ToString());
Console.WriteLine(x.ToString());
Console.WriteLine(x.ToString());
}

static void Main() {

Test();
}
}

The output of the program is:

1
2
3

Although it is bad style for ToString to have side effects, the example demonstrates that no boxing occurred for the three invocations of x.ToString().

Similarly, boxing never implicitly occurs when accessing a member on a constrained type parameter. For example, suppose an interface ICounter contains a method Increment which can be used to modify a value. If ICounter is used as a constraint, the implementation of the Increment method is called with a reference to the variable that Increment was called on, never a boxed copy.

using System;

interface ICounter
{
void Increment();
}

struct Counter: ICounter

{
int value;

public override string ToString() {

return value.ToString();
}

void ICounter.Increment() {

value++;
}
}

class Program

{
static void Test() where T: ICounter, new() {
T x = new T();
Console.WriteLine(x);
x.Increment(); // Modify x
Console.WriteLine(x);
((ICounter)x).Increment(); // Modify boxed copy of x
Console.WriteLine(x);
}

static void Main() {

Test();
}
}

The first call to Increment modifies the value in the variable x. This is not equivalent to the second call to Increment, which modifies the value in a boxed copy of x. Thus, the output of the program is:

0
1
1

For further details on boxing and unboxing, see §4.3.

11.3.6Meaning of this

Within an instance constructor or instance function member of a class, this is classified as a value. Thus, while this can be used to refer to the instance for which the function member was invoked, it is not possible to assign to this in a function member of a class.

Within an instance constructor of a struct, this corresponds to an out parameter of the struct type, and within an instance function member of a struct, this corresponds to a ref parameter of the struct type. In both cases, this is classified as a variable, and it is possible to modify the entire struct for which the function member was invoked by assigning to this or by passing this as a ref or out parameter.

11.3.7Field initializers

As described in §11.3.4, the default value of a struct consists of the value that results from setting all value type fields to their default value and all reference type fields to null. For this reason, a struct does not permit instance field declarations to include variable initializers. This restriction applies only to instance fields. Static fields of a struct are permitted to include variable initializers.

The example

struct Point
{
public int x = 1; // Error, initializer not permitted
public int y = 1; // Error, initializer not permitted
}

is in error because the instance field declarations include variable initializers.

11.3.8Constructors

Unlike a class, a struct is not permitted to declare a parameterless instance constructor. Instead, every struct implicitly has a parameterless instance constructor which always returns the value that results from setting all value type fields to their default value and all reference type fields to null (§4.1.2). A struct can declare instance constructors having parameters. For example

struct Point

{
int x, y;

public Point(int x, int y) {

this.x = x;
this.y = y;
}
}

Given the above declaration, the statements

Point p1 = new Point();

Point p2 = new Point(0, 0);

both create a Point with x and y initialized to zero.

A struct instance constructor is not permitted to include a constructor initializer of the form base(...).

If the struct instance constructor doesn’t specify a constructor initializer, the this variable corresponds to an out parameter of the struct type, and similar to an out parameter, this must be definitely assigned (§5.3) at every location where the constructor returns. If the struct instance constructor specifies a constructor initializer, the this variable corresponds to a ref parameter of the struct type, and similar to a ref parameter, this is considered definitely assigned on entry to the constructor body. Consider the instance constructor implementation below:

struct Point

{
int x, y;

public int X {

set { x = value; }
}

public int Y {

set { y = value; }
}

public Point(int x, int y) {

X = x; // error, this is not yet definitely assigned
Y = y; // error, this is not yet definitely assigned
}
}

No instance member function (including the set accessors for the properties X and Y) can be called until all fields of the struct being constructed have been definitely assigned. Note, however, that if Point were a class instead of a struct, the instance constructor implementation would be permitted.

11.3.9Destructors

A struct is not permitted to declare a destructor.

11.3.10Static constructors

Static constructors for structs follow most of the same rules as for classes. The execution of a static constructor for a struct type is triggered by the first of the following events to occur within an application domain:

• 
  An instance member of the struct type is referenced.
  
• 
  A static member of the struct type is referenced.
  
• 
  An explicitly declared constructor of the struct type is called.
  

The creation of default values (§11.3.4) of struct types does not trigger the static constructor. (An example of this is the initial value of elements in an array.)

Directory: download
download -> Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008 May 20, 2009 Abstract
download -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations
download -> Bbc archives: Beyond the programme download
download -> Occupational health and safety
download -> Dynatest 3031 lwd light Weight Deflectometer
download -> Forth coming competitive exams
download -> English Olympiad Tasks: 10 th form Аудіювання, 10 клас. Текст
download -> Brush High School Morning Announcements Friday, September 05, 2014 all school
download -> Year 9 The Arts — Music
download -> Years 7 and 8 standard elaborations — Australian Curriculum: Music draft

Download 3.2 Mb.

Share with your friends: