What's the difference between struct and class in .NET?

Question

What\'s the difference between struct and class in .NET?

Answer 1

A short summary of each:

Classes Only:

• Can support inheritance
• Are reference (pointer) types
• The reference can be null
• Have memory overhead per new instance

Structs Only:

• Cannot support inheritance
• Are value types
• Are passed by value (like integers)
• Cannot have a null reference (unless Nullable is used)
• Do not have a memory overhead per new instance - unless 'boxed'

Both Classes and Structs:

• Are compound data types typically used to contain a few variables that have some logical relationship
• Can contain methods and events
• Can support interfaces