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There is an important question that several people ask in forums and the question is "so what's the difference between structure and class? "Or "In what could be the structure useful as we have already the class that can do perfectly the job?" Those questions could particularly be posed by a java programmer who wants to emigrate from Java to .Net. For this reason I will enumerate through this article some of those differences to make clear the issue.
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The structures are value types and the classes are reference types. Before stepping to the next point let explain the difference between the two types. Imagine this is the memory within the machine  Figure 1 The value types are stocked in the stack but the reference type no. In fact, what could be really stocked in the stack for the reference types is a pointer that targets an address at the heap level. Then type of structure objects are stocked in the stack exactly like any value type say an Integer, a double or a float. Meanwhile, memory emplacements could be reserved for the reference types in the heap. Defining heap and stack and the difference between them is beyond the scope of this article but nevertheless I propose this excellent Matthew article to understand the memory mechanism. http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/rmcochran/csharp_memory01122006130034PM/csharp_memory.aspx?ArticleID=9adb0e3c-b3f6-40b5-98b5-413b6d348b91
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Classes are usually used for large amounts of data, whereas structs are usually used for smaller amount of data
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Classes could be inherited whereas structures no
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A structure couldn't be Null like a class
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A structure couldn't have a destructor such as class
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A structure can't be abstract, a class can
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You cannot override any methods within a structure except those belong to type of object
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Equals()
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GetHashCode()
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GetType()
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ToString()
And the other polymorphism technique used for structures is implementing interfaces
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Declared events within a class are automatically locked and then they are Thread safe, at the contrast of the structure type where event couldn't be locked.
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A structure must have always the default parameter less constructor be defined as public but a class might have one, so you can't define a private parameter less constructor
struct Me { private Me() // compile-time error { } } class Me { private Me() // runs Ok{ }
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A static constructor is trigged in case of class but not in case of structure
struct myStructure { static myStructure() { Console.WriteLine("This is me a structure"); } } class myClass
{ static myClass() { Console.WriteLine("This is me a class"); } }
class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { myStructure s = new myStructure();//Nothing happen myClass c = new myClass();//Will out put This is me a class Console.Read(); } }
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The strucutre can't conatain a volatile field wheatheas the class does
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You can't use sizeof with classes but you can with structures
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Fields are automatically initialized with classes to 0/false/null wheatheras in strucutres no
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Fields couldn't directley instanciated within structures but classes allow such operations
struct myStructure { public string x = 2;//Not allowed } class myClass { public string x = 2; //Allowed }
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Structure and class don't adopt the same aproach taward the System.Object.Equals() method
Suppose those Strucutre and class
struct StructurePerson { public string FirstName; public string LastName; } class ClassPerson { public string FirstName; public string LastName; }
Now, try this code
class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { StructurePerson strX = new StructurePerson(); strX.LastName = "Bejaoui"; strX.FirstName = "Bechir"; StructurePerson strY = new StructurePerson(); strY.LastName = "Bejaoui"; strY.FirstName = "Bechir";
if (strX.Equals(strY)) { Console.WriteLine("strX = strY"); } else { Console.WriteLine("strX != strY"); }//This code displays strX = strY
ClassPerson clsX = new ClassPerson(); clsX.LastName = "Bejaoui"; clsX.FirstName = "Bechir"; ClassPerson clsY = new ClassPerson(); clsY.LastName = "Bejaoui"; clsY.FirstName = "Bechir";
if (clsX.Equals(clsY)) { Console.WriteLine("clsX = clsY"); } else { Console.WriteLine("clsX != clsY"); }//This code displays clsX != clsY Console.Read(); } }
In the first strucutre case the two objects are value types, they are compared according to their values like int I = 5 and int J = 5 so I=J because they have the same value. At the contrast, in the class case two different and distinct reference are created so to make clsX = clsY you should use this code.
ClassPerson clsX = new ClassPerson(); clsX.LastName = "Bejaoui"; clsX.FirstName = "Bechir"; ClassPerson clsY = clsX; if (clsX.Equals(clsY)) { Console.WriteLine("clsX = clsY"); } else { Console.WriteLine("clsX != clsY");
}//This code displays clsX = clsY
That's it
Good Dotneting!!!
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Bechir Bejaoui
The author holds a master degree in NTIC specialized in software developement delivered by the high school of communication SUPCOM, he also holds a bachelor degree in finance delivered by the economic sciences and management university of Tunis "FSEGT".
He also holds:
MCPD enteprise solutions developement 3.5 certification and MCTS distibuted application developement 2.0
He's a freelance developer since 2006. Actually woking on the WPF, .Net framewok 3.5, silverlight and the other .Net new features, in addition, he is painter and sculptor.
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