Expression Bodied Members: A New Feature of C# 6.0

We can also implement getter-only (read-only) properties using expression-bodied properties. For example now in C# 6.0, instead of writing the entire property body using a getter, we can now just use a lambda arrow (=>) to return values. The following code returns "Amit Sharma " when you access the property " Name ".

• In C# 5.0

  using System;  
  public class propertexample  
  {  
      public string Name  
      {  
          get { return "Amit Sharma"; }  
      }  
      public static void Main(string[] args)  
      {  
          propertexample ap = new propertexample();  
          Console.WriteLine("\n Name= {0}", ap.Name);  // prints Amit Sharma  
          Console.ReadKey();  
      }  
  }   

• In C# 6.0

  using System;  
  using System.Console;  
  namespace CSharpFeatures  
  {  
      public class propertexample  
      {  
          public string Name => "Amit Sharma";  
          public static void Main(string[] args)  
          {  
              propertexample ap = new propertexample();  
              WriteLine("\n Name= \{ap.Name}");  // prints Amit Sharma  
              ReadKey();  
          }  
      }  
  }   

Output

Both of the preceding code snippets will give us the same output.

Demo Application using Visual Studio 2013

using System;
using System.Threading;
namespace CSharpFeatures
{
    public class ExpressionBodied
    {
        public int squarearea(int side)
        {
            return side * side;
        }
        public int operations(int a, int b)
        {
            return ((a + b) + (a - b) + (a * b) + (a / b));
        }
        public double squareroot(int X, int Y)
        {
            return Math.Sqrt(X * X + Y * Y);
        }
    }
    public class main
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            ExpressionBodied EB = new ExpressionBodied(); // Creating object of ExpressionBodied class
            Console.Write("\n -- Calculating Area of Square -- ");
            Console.Write("\n Enter side of the square: ");
            int i = Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine());
            int sa = EB.squarearea(i);
            Thread.Sleep(2000); //"Sleep for 2 seconds"
            Console.WriteLine(" Area of Square is {0}", sa);
            Console.WriteLine("\n -- Calculating an Arithmetic Operation -- ");
            Console.Write(" Enter the value of a: "); // Entering value a
            int x = Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine());
            Console.Write(" Enter the value of b: "); // Entering value b
            int y = Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine());
            int op = EB.operations(x, y);
            Thread.Sleep(2000); // "Sleep for 2 seconds"
            Console.WriteLine(" Result of the operation performed is {0}", op);
            Console.WriteLine("\n -- Calculation Square Root --");
            Console.Write(" Square Root of sides 3 and 4 is: ");
            double sq = EB.squareroot(3, 4);
            Thread.Sleep(2000); // "Sleep for 2 seconds"
            Console.Write(sq);
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

Output

Demo Application using Visual Studio 2015 Preview

using System;  
using System.Console;  
using System.Convert;  
using System.Threading;  
namespace CSharpFeatures  
{  
    public class ExpressionBodied  
    {  
        public int squarearea(int side) => side * side;  
        public int operations(int a, int b) => ((a + b) + (a - b) + (a * b) + (a / b));  
        public double squareroot(int X, int Y) => Math.Sqrt(X * X + Y * Y);  
    }  
    public class main  
    {  
        static void Main()  
        {  
            ExpressionBodied EB = new ExpressionBodied(); // Creating object of ExpressionBodied class  
            Write("\n -- Calculating Area of Square -- ");  
            Write("\n Enter side of the square: ");  
            int i = ToInt32(ReadLine());  
            int sa = EB.squarearea(i);  
            Thread.Sleep(2000);  //"Sleep for 2 seconds"  
            Write(" Area of Square is \{sa}\n\n");  
  
            WriteLine("\n -- Calculating an Arithmatic Operation -- ");  
            Write(" Enter the value of a: ");  // Entering value a  
            int x = ToInt32(ReadLine());  
            Write(" Enter the value of b: ");  // Entering value b  
            int y = ToInt32(ReadLine());  
            int op = EB.operations(x, y);  
            Thread.Sleep(2000);  // "Sleep for 2 seconds"  
            WriteLine(" Result of the operation performed is \{op}");  
  
            WriteLine("\n -- Calculation Square Root --");  
            Write(" Square Root of sides 3 and 4 is: ");  
            double sq = EB.squareroot(3, 4);  
            Thread.Sleep(2000);  // "Sleep for 2 seconds"  
            Write(sq);  
            Read();  
        }  
    }  
}  

Output

Summary

In this article, we learned about Expression Bodied Members, the new feature of C# 6.0. Though it is still not very clear what additional benefits it will provide, but it will definitely give us clean code by reducing some code, brackets and so on. What additional benefits do you think there are? Please comment and share with us. Don't forget to read my other articles on the series "A new feature of C# 6.0". Share your opinion about this feature and how will you use it in your project? Your comments are most welcome. Happy Coding!