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Video: Using Classes and Objects in C# (Bulgarian)

  • June 14, 2022
  • Nikolay Kostov (Nikolay.IT)

Topics covered:

  • Classes and Objects
    • What are Objects?
    • What are Classes?
  • Classes in C#
    • Declaring Class
    • Fields and Properties: Instance and Static
    • Instance and Static Methods
    • Constructors
  • Enumerations
  • Structures
  • Namespaces
  • Random class
  • Introduction to .NET Common Type System

Video (in Bulgarian)

Presentation Content

What are Objects?

  • Software objects model real-world objects or abstract concepts
    • Examples:
      • bank, account, customer, dog, bicycle, queue
  • Real-world objects have states and behaviors
    • Account’ states:
      • holder, balance, type
    • Account’ behaviors:
      • withdraw, deposit, suspend
  • How do software objects implement real-world objects?
    • Use variables/data to implement states
    • Use methods/functions to implement behaviors
  • An object is a software bundle of variables and related methods

Classes

Classes act as templates from which an instance of an object is created at run time. Classes define the properties of the object and the methods used to control the object’s behavior.

  • Classes provide the structure for objects
    • Define their prototype, act as template
  • Classes define:
    • Set of attributes
      • Represented by variables and properties
      • Hold their state
    • Set of actions ( behavior )
      • Represented by methods
  • A class defines the methods and types of data associated with an object

Objects

  • An object is a concrete instance of a particular class
  • Creating an object from a class is called instantiation
  • Objects have state
    • Set of values associated to their attributes
  • Example:
    • Class: Account
    • Objects: Ivan’s account, Peter’s account

Classes in C#

  • Classes – basic units that compose programs
  • Implementation is encapsulated (hidden)
  • Classes in C# can contain:
    • Fields (member variables)
    • Properties
    • Methods
    • Constructors
    • Inner types
    • Etc. (events, indexers, operators, …)

Classes in C# – Examples

  • Example of classes (structures):
    • System.Console
    • System.String ( string in C#)
    • System.Int32 ( int in C#)
    • System.Array
    • System.Math
    • System.Random
    • System.DateTime
    • System.Collections.Generics.List<T>

Fields

  • Fields are data members of a class
    • Can be variables and constants (read-only)
  • Accessing a field doesn’t invoke any actions of the object
    • Just accesses its value
  • Example:
    • String.Empty (the “” string)

Properties

  • Properties look like fields
    • Have name and type
    • Can contain code, executed when accessed
  • Usually used as wrappers
    • To control the access to the data fields
    • Can contain more complex logic
  • Can have two components called accessors
    • get for reading their value
    • set for changing their value
  • According to the implemented accessors properties can be:
    • Read-only ( get accessor only)
    • Read and write (both get and set accessors)
    • Write-only ( set accessor only)
  • Example of read-only property:
    • String.Length
  • Example of read-write property:
    • Console.BackgroundColor

Instance and Static Members

  • Fields, properties and methods can be:
    • Instance (or object members)
    • Static (or class members)
  • Instance members are specific for each object
    • Example: different dogs have different name
  • Static members are common for all instances of a class
    • Example: DateTime.MinValue is shared between all instances of DateTime

Accessing Members – Syntax

  • Accessing instance members
    • The name of the instance , followed by the name of the member (field or property), separated by dot (" . ")
  • Accessing static members
    • The name of the class , followed by the name of the member

Instance and Static Members – Examples

  • Example of instance member
    • String.Length
      • Each string object has a different length
      • E.g. “I like C#”.Length  9
  • Example of static member
    • Console.ReadLine()
      • The console is only one (global for the program)
      • Reading from the console does not require to create an instance of it

Methods

  • Methods manipulate the data of the object to which they belong or perform other tasks
  • Examples:
    • Console.WriteLine(…)
    • Console.ReadLine()
    • String.Substring(index , length )
    • Array.GetLength(index)
    • List<T>.Add(item)
    • DateTime.AddDays(count)

Instance Methods

  • _Instance methods _ manipulate the data of a specified object or perform any other tasks
    • If a value is returned, it depends on the particular class instance
  • Syntax:
    • The name of the instance, followed by the name of the method, separated by dot

Static Methods

  • _Static methods _ are common for all instances of a class (shared between all instances)
    • Returned value depends only on the passed parameters
    • No particular class instance is available
  • Syntax:
    • The name of the class, followed by the name of the method, separated by dot

Constructors

  • Constructors are special methods used to assign initial values of the fields in an object
    • Executed when an object of a given type is being created
    • Have the same name as the class that holds them
    • Do not return a value
  • A class may have several constructors with different set of parameters
  • Constructor is invoked by the new operator

Parameterless Constructors

  • The constructor without parameters is called _default _ ( parameterless ) constructor
  • Example:
    • Creating an object for generating random numbers with a default seed

Enumerations

  • Enumerations in C# are types whose values are limited to a predefined set of values
    • E.g. the days of week
    • Declared by the keyword enum in C#
    • Hold values from a predefined set

Structures

  • Structures in C# are similar to classes
    • Structures are _value _ types (directly hold a value)
    • Classes are reference types (pointers)
  • Structures are usually used for storing data structures, without any other functionality
  • Structures can have fields, properties, etc.
    • Using methods is not recommended
  • Example of structure
    • System.DateTime – represents a date and time

What is a Namespace?

  • Namespaces are used to organize the source code into more logical and manageable way
  • Namespaces can contain
    • Definitions of classes, structures, interfaces and other types and other namespaces
  • Namespaces can contain other namespaces
  • For example:
    • System namespace contains Data namespace
    • The name of the nested namespace is System.Data

Full Class Names

  • A full name of a class is the name of the class preceded by the name of its namespace
  • Example:
    • Array class, defined in the System namespace
    • The full name of the class is System.Array
  • <namespace_name>.<class_name>

Password Generator – Example

  • Write a program to generate a random password between 8 and 15 characters
    • The password contains of at least two capital letters, two small letters, one digit and three special characters
  • Constructing the password generator class:
    • Start from an empty password
    • Place 2 random capital letters at random positions
    • Place 2 random small letters at random positions
    • Place 1 random digit at random positions
    • Place 3 special characters at random positions
  • Now we have exactly 8 characters
    • To make the password length between 8 and 15 we add between 0 and 7 random characters
      • Capital / small letters / digits / special character
      • Inserts each of them at random position

Common Type System (CTS)

  • CTS defines all data types supported in .NET Framework
    • Primitive types (e.g. int , float , object )
    • Classes (e.g. String , Console , Array )
    • Structures (e.g. DateTime )
    • Arrays (e.g. int [] , string[,] )
    • Etc.
  • Object-oriented by design

CTS and Different Languages

  • CTS is common for all .NET languages
    • C#, VB.NET, J#, JScript.NET, ...
  • CTS type mappings:
CTS Type C# Type VB.NET Type
System.Int32 int Integer
System.Single float Single
System.Boolean bool Boolean
System.String string String
System.Object object Object

System.Object: CTS Base Type

  • System.Object ( object in C#) is a base type for all other types in CTS
    • Can hold values of any other type:
  • All .NET types derive common methods from System.Object , e.g. ToString()

Value and Reference Types

  • In CTS there are two categories of types
    • Value _ _ types
    • Reference types
  • Placed in different areas of memory
    • Value types live in the _execution _ stack*
      • Freed when become out of scope
    • Reference types live in the _managed heap _ (dynamic memory)
      • Freed by the _garbage _ collector
  • _* _ Note: this _ does not mean _ that _ value types, which are part of reference types _ live on the stack. E.g., integers in a List< int > _ do not _ live on the stack

Value and Reference Types – Examples

  • Value types
    • Most of the primitive types
    • Structures
    • Examples: int , float , bool , DateTime
  • Reference types
    • Classes and interfaces
    • Strings
    • Arrays
    • Examples: string , Random , object , int[]

Summary

  • Classes provide the structure for objects
  • Objects are particular instances of classes
  • Classes have different members
    • Methods, fields, properties, etc.
    • Instance and static members
    • Members can be accessed
    • Methods can be called
  • Structures are used for storing data
  • Namespaces group related classes
  • Namespaces help organizing the classes
  • Common Type System (CTS) defines the types for all .NET languages
    • Values types
    • Reference types

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