C# objects by Ref

Question

If one passes an object to a method using the \'Ref\' keyword then what is the difference with passing it without the ref keyword?

Because both yield the same result, th

Answer 1

Passing a variable by reference and passing a reference type is two different things. You can combine them by passing a reference type varaible by reference.

Passing a variable by reference simply means that the method can change the variable. The method gets access to the variable itself, not just a copy of the value. A variable doesn't have to be a reference type to be passed by reference. The few cases where passing by reference is used is actually mostly with value types.

When passing a reference type by reference, that means that the method gets access to the reference variable, not just a copy of the reference to the object. The method not only have access to the object, but it can also replace the reference in the variable with a reference to a different object.

Passing by reference is rarely needed, and certainly not something that you need to do just because you are passing a reference type as a parameter.