All values in Python are references. What you need to worry about is if a type is mutable. The basic numeric and string types, as well as tuple and frozenset are immutable; names that are bound to an object of one of those types can only be rebound, not mutated. >>> t = 1, 2, … Read more
Because a “fixed buffer” is not a real array. It is a custom value type, about the only way to generate one in the C# language that I know. There is no way for the CLR to verify that indexing of the array is done in a safe way. The code is not verifiable either. … Read more
In response to my other answer, Eric Smith correctly notes: “… because it would require implicitly boxing the receiver type parameter …”. Which is what happens anyway, if you do something like this: Func f = 5.ToString; Which is perfectly legal. Thinking about this has led me to a new answer. Try this on for … Read more
Does the readonly modifier create a hidden copy of a field? Calling a method or property on a read-only field of a regular struct type (outside the constructor or static constructor) first copies the field, yes. That’s because the compiler doesn’t know whether the property or method access would modify the value you call it … Read more
Yes, you can. The pointer to the class member variable is stored on the stack with the rest of the struct’s values, and the class instance’s data is stored on the heap. Structs can also contain class definitions as members (inner classes). Here’s some really useless code that at least compiles and runs to show … Read more
Your final assertion is correct. The ValueType variables are entirely copied when passing them as a parameter to a function, rather than typically just getting a copy of the reference to an object. This allows you to treat a small object as if it were a value type like int or boolean.
Guid is a Value Type. See MSDN. Note that Guid is a struct. All structs are Value Types.
The question boils down to this: the CLI (Common Language Infrastructure) specification says that delegates are reference types. Why is this so? One reason is clearly visible in the .NET Framework today. In the original design, there were two kinds of delegates: normal delegates and “multicast” delegates, which could have more than one target in … Read more
Array is implemented with copy-on-write behaviour – you’ll get it regardless of any compiler optimisations (although of course, optimisations can decrease the number of cases where a copy needs to happen). At a basic level, Array is just a structure that holds a reference to a heap-allocated buffer containing the elements – therefore multiple Array … Read more
For mapping between two types where you’re taking control of the entire mapping, use ConvertUsing: Mapper.CreateMap<MyEnum, string>().ConvertUsing(src => src.ToString()); All the other methods assume you’re mapping to individual members on the destination type.