When should I use a struct rather than a class in C#?

Question

When should you use struct and not class in C#? My conceptual model is that structs are used in times when the item is merely a collection of value types. A way to

Answer 1

Nah - I don't entirely agree with the rules. They are good guidelines to consider with performance and standardization, but not in light of the possibilities.

As you can see in the responses, there are a lot of creative ways to use them. So, these guidelines need to just be that, always for the sake of performance and efficiency.

In this case, I use classes to represent real world objects in their larger form, I use structs to represent smaller objects that have more exact uses. The way you said it, "a more cohesive whole." The keyword being cohesive. The classes will be more object oriented elements, while structs can have some of those characteristics, though on a smaller scale. IMO.

I use them a lot in Treeview and Listview tags where common static attributes can be accessed very quickly. I have always struggled to get this info another way. For example, in my database applications, I use a Treeview where I have Tables, SPs, Functions, or any other objects. I create and populate my struct, put it in the tag, pull it out, get the data of the selection and so forth. I wouldn't do this with a class!

I do try and keep them small, use them in single instance situations, and keep them from changing. It's prudent to be aware of memory, allocation, and performance. And testing is so necessary.