Difference between Class and Structure in .NET






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Difference between Class and Structure in .NET
Introduction
I hope this article will clarify doubts for those who are keenly looking for the difference between Structure and Class in .NET (C#). .NET is entirely an object oriented programming language that supports all object oriented concepts like Inheritance (only Single Inheritance supported in C#), Polymorphism (Runtime/Dynamic polymorphism, Compile time/Static polymorphism), Data Abstraction, Data hiding, Method and Operator overloading (operator overloading is also one type of polymorphism), Method Overriding, etc.
Apart from discussing about the differences between classes and structures, I will also be covering most of the basic keywords available in C# with the explanation in detail and related technical words.
Now let’s start with the differences between classes and structures step-by-step in details.
Differences between Class and Structure
- Classes are Reference types and Structures are Values types.
When I say Classes are reference types, basically they will contain the address of an instance variables. For example:
Class MyClass { Public Int DataMember; //By default, accessibility of class data members //will be private. So I am making it as Public which //can be accessed out side of the class. }
In
main
method, I can create an instance of this class usingnew
operator that allocates memory for this class and stores the base address of that intoMyClass
type variable.Static Public void Main (string [] arg) { MyClass _myClassObject1 =new MyClass (); _ myClassObject1.DataMember=10; MyClass _myClassObject2 =_myClassObject1; _ myClassObject2.DataMember=20; }
In the above program, “
MyClass _myClassObject2 =_myClassObject1
” instruction indicates that both variables of typeMyClass myClassObject1
andmyClassObject2
will point to the same memory location. It basically assigns the same memory location into another variable of same type.So if any changes that we make in any one of the objects type
MyClass
will have an effect on another since both are pointing to the same memory location.“
_ myClassObject1.DataMember=10
” at this line both the object’s data members will contain the value of10
._ myClassObject2.DataMember=20
at this line both the object’s data member will contains the value of20
. Eventually, we are accessingdatamember
s of an object through pointers.Unlike classes, structures are value types. For example:
Structure MyStructure { Public Int DataMember; //By default, accessibility of Structure data //members will be private. So I am making it as //Public which can be accessed out side of the structure. } Static Public void Main (string [] arg) { MyStructure _myStructObject1 =new MyStructure (); _ myStructObject1.DataMember=10; MyStructure _ myStructObject2 =_ myStructObject1; _ myStructObject2.DataMember=20; }
In the above program, instantiating the object of
MyStructure
type usingnew
operator and storing address into_myStructObject
variable of typeMyStructure
and assigning value10
to data member of the structure using “_ myStructObject1.DataMember=10
”. In the next line, I am declaring anothervariable_myStructObject2
of typeMyStructure
and assigning_myStructObject1
into that. Here .NET C# compiler creates another copy of_myStructureObject1
object and assigns that memory location intoMyStructure
variable_myStructObject2
.So whatever change we make on
_myStructObject1
will never have an effect on another variable_myStructObject2
of typeMyStructrue
. So that’s why we are saying Structures are value types.So the immediate Base class for class is
Object
and immediate Base class for Structure isValueType
which inherits fromObject
. - Classes will support an Inheritance whereas Structures won’t.
How are we saying that? And what is the reason behind that? The answer is Classes.
It can be
abstract
,sealed
,static
, andpartial
and can’t bePrivate
,Protected
andprotected internal
.Why do we want to have class as Abstract?
Abstract
–Abstract
classes are incomplete classes, i.e., they will have combination of implemented and unimplemented methods along with data members, properties, events, delegates and indexers.The main idea to have class as
abstract
is to have onlyBase
class that can be derivable and that will have basic functionality. As I mentioned above, we can have unimplemented method inabstract
class that gives flexibility to derived classes to implement as required along with basic functionality. And also, we can’t instantiate object ofabstract
class.Abstract
class can be with/withoutabstract
methods. But if methods are declared asabstract
in a class, that class also should be declared asabstract
.Sealed
–Sealed
classes are classes that are not inheritable. Methods also can besealed
, that is, those methods declared assealed
can’t be overridable, i.e., derived classed can’t override those methods. And normal classes can’t havesealed
method.Sealed
keyword should be declared withoverride
keyword in the derived class' method for whichbase
class will havevirtual
method.Why do we want to have class and method as Sealed?
The reason to have class and method as sealed is to stop the inheritance at one level.
Where to use sealed?
If you think that class is not to be inherited in your design, you can use class as
sealed
. Butsealed
class can inherit from interface and class. If you thinkvirtual
method cannot to be inherited in derived class at one stage, we can declare a method with sealed+override combination.By default structures are
sealed
, that is the reason structures are not supporting inheritance.Why do we want to have class and methods as static?
In your design, if you feel that a class should have a set of methods which operate only on arguments that we pass without initiating object of that class, then we can make that class as
static
class (Example:System.Math
). Merely call those instance methods by class name.How this class will be loaded without creating an object?
If your code accesses any of
static
class’s methods, then this is the responsibility of CLR (Common Language Runtime) to load this class into memory once which is the lifetime of your application.Object of
static
class can’t be instantiated. Why? Sincestatic
class can’t have instance constructor.Static
class supports inheritance but other classes can’t inherit fromstatic
class, i.e.,static
classes are sealed. Classes can havestatic
methods butstatic
classes can’t have instance member and instance methods.if
, should be declared withstatic
keyword.Static
class is useful when you implement Singleton Design pattern.What does partial modifier indicate?
Partial key word is to declare the class as partial meant to say it splits the classes into multiple parts under the same class name in a single namespace.
Why? So that developers can implement the functionally for the same class parallely.
But all combined will give one class. Each split class can have instance variable, instance methods, properties, indexers, events and delegates.
Structures can’t have modifiers like
abstract
,sealed
, andstatic
whereas classes can have.Both structure and class can have partial modifiers.
As I mentioned earlier, structures can have method declaration but not
virtual
andsealed
methods. Why? Since those two are essential for inheritance. Anyhow, the structure won’t support inheritance and declaring methods using those two keywords will throw compile time errors. - Classes can have explicitly parameterless constructors whereas structures can’t.
- Member variable initialization is possible in class whereas in Structures, it is not.
- It is not possible to declare destructor in structure but in class it is possible.
- Process of converting structure type into object type is called boxing and process of converting object type into structure type is called unboxing.
Example:
int a=10;
Object ob = (object) a; //Boxing a= (int) obj; //Unboxing
- The “
this
” keyword gives different meaning in structure and class. How?- In class, “
this
” keyword is classified as value type of class type within which it is used like inside instance constructor or instance method. - In structure, “
this
” keyword is classified as variable type of structure type within which it is used.
- In class, “
When to Use Structure and Class?
In general, classes can be used when you have more complex behavior or data. And if you think that these behaviour or data to be modified after creating an instance of class, then classes are absolute methods.
Structures can be used for small data structures. If developer feels that data members of structure cannot to be modified after creating structure, then having structure will suit.