10 features in C# that you really should learn (and use!)

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C#

1) async / await

Use the async / await-pattern to allow unblocking of the UI / current thread when execution blocking operations. The async / await-pattern works by letting the code continue executing even if something is blocking the execution (like a web request).

Read more about the async / await-pattern here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh191443.aspx

2) Object / array / collection initializers

Create instances of classes, arrays and collections easily by using the object, array and collection initializers:

//Just some demo class
public class Employee {
    public string Name {get; set;}
    public DateTime StartDate {get; set;}
}

//Create an employlee by using the initializer
Employee emp = new Employee {Name="John Smith", StartDate=DateTime.Now()};

The above example can be really useful in unit testing but should be avoided in other contexts as instances of classes should be created using a constructor.

Read more about initializers here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb384062.aspx

3) Lambdas, predicates, delegates and closures

These features are practically a necessity in many cases (e.g. when using Linq), make sure to actually learn when and how to use them.

Read more about Lambdas, predicates, delegates and closure here.

4) ?? (Null coalescing operator)

The ??-operator returns the left side as long as it’s not null, in that case the right side will be returned:

//May be null
var someValue = service.GetValue();
var defaultValue = 23

//result will be 23 if someValue is null
var result = someValue ?? defaultValue;

The ??-operator can be chained:

string anybody = parm1 ?? localDefault ?? globalDefault;

And it can be used to convert nullable types to non nullable:

var totalPurchased = PurchaseQuantities.Sum(kvp => kvp.Value ?? 0);

Read more about the ??-operator here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173224.aspx

5) $”{x}” (String Interpolation) – C# 6

A new feature of C# 6 that lets you assemble strings in an efficient and elegant way:

//Old way
var someString = String.Format("Some data: {0}, some more data: {1}", someVariable, someOtherVariable);

//NewWay
var someString = $"Some data: {someVariable}, some more data: {someOtherVariable}";

You can put C# expressions in between the braces, which makes this very powerful.

6) ?. (Null-conditional operator) – C# 6

The null-conditional operator works like this:

//Null if customer or customer.profile or customer.profile.age is null
var currentAge = customer?.profile?.age;

No more NullReferenceExceptions!

Read more about the ?.-operator here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn986595.aspx

7) nameof Expression – C# 6

So the new nameof-expression might not seem important, but it really has it value. When using automatic re-factoring tools (like ReSharper) you sometime need to refer to a method argument by it’s name:

public void PrintUserName(User currentUser)
{
    //The refactoring tool might miss the textual reference to current user below if we're renaming it
    if(currentUser == null)
        _logger.Error("Argument currentUser is not provided");

    //...
}

This is how you should use it…

public void PrintUserName(User currentUser)
{
    //The refactoring tool will not miss this...
    if(currentUser == null)
        _logger.Error($"Argument {nameof(currentUser)} is not provided");

    //...
}

Read more about the nameof-expression here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn986596.aspx

8) Property Initializers – C# 6

Property initializers lets you declare an initial value for a property:

public class User
{ 
    public Guid Id { get; } = Guid.NewGuid();  
    // ...
}

A benefit of using property initializers is that you can not declare a set:er, thus making the property immutable. Property initializers works great together with C# 6 primary constructor syntax.

9) as and is-operators

The is-operator is used to control if an instance is of a specific type, e.g. if you want to see if a cast is possible:

if (Person is Adult)
{
    //do stuff
}

Use the as-operator to try to cast an instance to a class. It will return null if cast was not possible:

SomeType y = x as SomeType;
if (y != null)
{
    //do stuff
}

10) yield-keyword

The yield-keyword lets you feed an an IEnumerable-interface with items. The following example will return each powers of 2 up to the exponent of 8 (e.g. 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 ,256):

public static IEnumerable<int> Power(int number, int exponent)
{
    int result = 1;
    for (int i = 0; i < exponent; i++)
    {
      result = result * number;
      yield return result;
    }
}

yield return can be very powerful if it’s used in the correct way. It enables you to lazily generate a sequence of objects, ie. the system does not have to enumerate the whole collection – it can be done on demand.

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