Hidden Features of C#? [closed]

Answer 1

The @ tells the compiler to ignore any escape characters in a string.

Just wanted to clarify this one... it doesn't tell it to ignore the escape characters, it actually tells the compiler to interpret the string as a literal.

If you have

string s = @"cat
             dog
             fish"

it will actually print out as (note that it even includes the whitespace used for indentation):

cat
             dog
             fish

Answer 2

If you want to exit your program without calling any finally blocks or finalizers use FailFast:

Environment.FailFast()

Answer 3

Two things I like are Automatic properties so you can collapse your code down even further:

private string _name;
public string Name
{
    get
    {
        return _name;
    }
    set
    {
        _name = value;
    }
}

becomes

public string Name { get; set;}

Also object initializers:

Employee emp = new Employee();
emp.Name = "John Smith";
emp.StartDate = DateTime.Now();

becomes

Employee emp = new Employee {Name="John Smith", StartDate=DateTime.Now()}

Answer 4

Attributes in general, but most of all DebuggerDisplay. Saves you years.

Answer 5

Not sure why anyone would ever want to use Nullable<bool> though. :-)

True, False, FileNotFound?

Answer 6

Everything else, plus

1) implicit generics (why only on methods and not on classes?)

void GenericMethod<T>( T input ) { ... }

//Infer type, so
GenericMethod<int>(23); //You don't need the <>.
GenericMethod(23);      //Is enough.

2) simple lambdas with one parameter:

x => x.ToString() //simplify so many calls

3) anonymous types and initialisers:

//Duck-typed: works with any .Add method.
var colours = new Dictionary<string, string> {
    { "red", "#ff0000" },
    { "green", "#00ff00" },
    { "blue", "#0000ff" }
};

int[] arrayOfInt = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };

---

Another one:

4) Auto properties can have different scopes:

public int MyId { get; private set; }

---

Thanks @pzycoman for reminding me:

5) Namespace aliases (not that you're likely to need this particular distinction):

using web = System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using win = System.Windows.Forms;

web::Control aWebControl = new web::Control();
win::Control aFormControl = new win::Control();