Introduction to Structures in C#

Introduction to Structures in C#

• Structure in C# is a value type data type, created by using keyword struct, and can have fields, methods, properties, operators etc. just as in C# Classes.
• Main difference between C# Class & Structure is that C# Class is a Reference Type Date type while C# Struct is a Value Type Data type.

• Let's have a look at the syntax of C# Structure:

• You can see in above figure, that we have created a struct in C# named StudentsData and it has two private fields in it i.e. ID and Name.
• This structure declaration is quite similar to that of C# class and the only difference is that we have used struct keyword here, instead of class keyword.
• So, now let's add a C# Method in this structure and then invoke it from Main Function, shown in below figure:

• So, you can see in above figure that we have invoked structure in the same way as we invoked C# Class.
• We have first created a reference variable for C# structure and then invoked the Structure Method. ( as we did for C# Class )
• We can't inherit a structure from a Parent Class or any other struct but we can inherit a class from a structure.
• Both Structs & Classes can inherit from an Interface. ( which we will study in next lecture)
• C# Data Types i.e. int, float, double are examples of Struct in C#.
• Structs are stored on Stack while we use Heap for storing C# Classes.
• Let's have a look at Struct Constructor, which is slightly different than Class Constructor:

Struct Constructor in C#

• Structures in C# can't have destructors, if you add a destructor in struct, then compiler will generate an error.
• Although you can create a Constructor in C# Struct but make sure it has some parameters in its definition.
• A parameter-less constructor is not allowed in Structures but you can overload Struct Constructors.