Programming in the .NET Environment

Summary

This chapter provided a detailed view of the type system of the Common Language Runtime. The CLR supports an object-oriented programming style, which is reflected in its type system. The CTS contains two basic types: value types and reference types. Value types are similar to primitive types in many programming languages. Reference types are analogous to classes in many object-oriented languages; they are further divided into object, interface, and pointer types.

All object types inherit from Object. Object types may introduce new methods, these methods can be either static or instance; instance methods can also be virtually dispatched. Methods may, of course, follow the rules for properties or events, thereby gaining additional support ...