Intermediate topics in C#

Ivan Lumala
Academic Developer Evangelist ivanl@microsoft.com

Intermediate C#

1st class component support Operator overloading Versioning Attributes

Component Support

What defines a component?

Properties, methods, events Integrated help and documentation Design-time and runtime information Not naming patterns, helper classes, etc. Not external files

C# has first class support

Easy to build and consume

Properties

Access to private fields normally requires accessors and mutators Properties allow access to private fields as if they were public

public class Person { private int age; public int Age { Property get { return age; } set { age = value; Console.WriteLine(age); } } }

Person p = new Person(); p.Age = 27; p.Age++;

C#

instead of:

Other

Person p = new Person(); p.setAge(27); p.setAge(p.getAge() + 1);

Indexers

Index an object as if it were an array

C#
Numbers Num = new Numbers(); Num[0] = 5; int Val = Num[0];

public class numbers { private int[3] nums; public int this[int index] { get { return nums[index]; } set { nums[index] = value; } } }

instead of:
Numbers Num = new Numbers(); Num.Set_Nums(0,5); int Val = Num.Get_Nums(0);

Indexer

Other

Delegates

Object oriented function pointers

A reference type encapsulating a method signature and return value

Can point to multiple functions

Thread-safe + and - operations Delegate

Foundation for events

Multicast Delegate
delegate void Greeting(); Greeting greeting; greeting += new Greeting(A.SayHello); greeting += new Greeting(A.Bow); public class a { void SayHello() { //Say Hello } void Bow() { // bow } }

delegate double Func(double x); Func func = new Func(Math.Sin); double x = func(1.0);

public class math { double Sin(double x) { //return (sin x) } }

Events

Specialized multicast delegate Represent a signal that something has occurred in a program Two main issues

Generating events Consuming events

Events
Sourcing

Define the event signature

public delegate void SomeDelegate(object sender, EventArgs e);

Define the event and firing logic

public class Button { public event SomeDelegate Click; protected void OnClick(EventArgs e) { if (Click != null) Click(this, e); } }

Events
Handling

Define and register event handler

public class MyForm: Form { Button okButton;

public MyForm() { okButton = new Button(...); okButton.Caption = "OK"; okButton.Click += new SomeDelegate(OkButtonClick); } void OkButtonClick(object sender, EventArgs e) { ShowMessage("You pressed the OK button"); } }

Intermediate C#

Code example of Event Handling in a Windows Form IsPrime app

Intermediate C#

1st class component support Operator overloading Versioning Attributes

Rational Number
, , 1
Rational r1 = new Rational(1,2); Rational r2 = new Rational(2,1); Rational r3 = r1.AddRational(r2); double d = Rational.ConvertToDouble(r3);

Rational r1 = new Rational(1,2); Rational r2 = 2;

Rational r3 = r1 + r2;

double d = (double) r3;

Rational Number Struct

public struct Rational { public Rational(int n, int d) { } public int Numerator { get{} } public int Denominator { get{} } public override string ToString() { } }

Rational r = new Rational(1,2); string s = r.ToString();

Implicit Conversions

No loss of data

public struct Rational { public static implicit operator Rational(int i) { return new Rational(i,1); } }

Rational r = 2;

Explicit Conversions

Possible loss of precision and can throw exceptions

public struct Rational { public static explicit operator double(Rational r) { return (double) r.Numerator / r.Denominator; } }

Rational r = new Rational(2,3); double d = (double) r;

Operator Overloading

Static operators Must take its type as a parameter

public struct Rational { public static Rational operator+ ( Rational lhs,Rational rhs) { return new Rational( ); } } Rational r3 = r1 + r2;
r3 += 2;

Equality Operators

.NET Framework equality support

public override bool Equals(object o)

.Equals() should use operator==()

public static bool operator== (Rational lhs, Rational rhs) public static bool operator!= (Rational lhs, Rational rhs)

if ( r1.Equals(r2) ) { } if ( r1 == r2 ) { }

if ( !r1.Equals(r2)) { } if ( r1 != r2 ) { }

Intermediate C#

1st class component support Operator overloading Versioning Attributes

Versioning

C# added some smarts to fix the version problem.

Problem was that user could not express versioning intent Can enable ( explicit override) Can encourage ( smart defaults) Explicit interface implementation Overloading and overriding readonly fields Smart defaults for accessibility and virtuality Event arguments packaged as objects

C# can't guarantee versioning, but

Impact on language is subtle but pervasive

Method Versioning in C#
class Base // // v2.0 v1.0 { } public virtual voidFoo() int Foo() { Database.Log("Base.Foo"); return 0; } } } } class Derived : Base // v1.0 v2.0 { public virtual voidvoid Foo() new virtual Foo() override void Foo() { Console.WriteLine("Derived.Foo"); super.Foo(); } Console.WriteLine("Derived.Foo"); } } }

Intermediate C#

1st class component support Operator overloading Versioning Attributes

Attributes

How do you associate information with types and members?

Documentation URL for a class Transaction context for a method XML persistence mapping
Add keywords or pragmas to language Use external files, e.g., IDL, DEF

Traditional solutions

C# solution: Attributes

Attributes

Appear in square brackets Attached to code elements

[HelpUrl(http://SomeUrl/Docs/SomeClass)] class SomeClass { [WebMethod] void GetCustomers() { } string Test([SomeAttr] string param1) {} }

Attribute Fundamentals

Can be Intrinsic or Custom Attributes are generic classes!

class HelpUrl : System.Attribute { public HelpUrl(string url) { } }

Easy to attach to types and members

[HelpUrl(http://SomeUrl/APIDocs/SomeClass)] class SomeClass { }

Attributes can be queried at runtime

Type type = Type.GetType(SomeClass); Attribute[] attributes = type.GetCustomAttributes();

Creating Attributes

Attributes are simply classes

Derived from System.Attribute Class functionality = attribute functionality

public class HelpURLAttribute: System.Attribute { public HelpURLAttribute(string url) { } public string URL { get { } } public string Tag { get { } set { } } }

Using Attributes

Just attach it to a class

[HelpURL(http://someurl/)] Class MyClass { }

Use named parameters

[HelpURL(http://someurl/, Tag=ctor)] Class MyClass { }

Use multiple attributes

[HelpURL(http://someurl/), HelpURL(http://someurl/, Tag=ctor)] Class MyClass { }

Querying Attributes

Use reflection to query attributes

Type type = typeof(MyClass); foreach(object attr in type.GetCustomAttributes()) { if(attr is HelpURLAttribute) { HelpURLAttribute ha = (HelpURLAttribute) attr; myBrowser.Navigate(ha.URL); } }

Resources

Newsgroup:
microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.CSharp on

msnews.microsoft.com Web sites:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/ Inside C# MS Press C# Language Specification MS Press C# How to Program Prentice Hall
developmentor, Wintellect http://www.microsoft.com/net/training.asp

Books

Training

The .NET Framework in Curriculum

Multi-language
Use

runtime environment

the language you like Access the same class libraries to do similar tasks
Use

a powerful IDE to access easy-to-use learning tools

Visual

Studio .NET Academic

Experience

programming with .NET by building your own Terrarium creature

Microsoft Resources for Faculty

MSDN

Academic Alliance

Check

out MSDN AA New program from Microsoft

Software

for computer science courses

Annual

membership fee of $799 per department

Membership

runs from July-June

Web

site that supports program: (www.msdnaa.net)

Visual
All

Studio .NET Academic

the features of Visual Studio .NET Professional plus Course Management Tools

Questions?