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Andrei Fedotov
Andrei Fedotov

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List of C# 9 features

Top-level statements

The very simple program on C# looks like the following

using System;
namespace HelloWorld
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
        }
    }
}
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but with C# 9 we can make it simpler:

System.Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
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Target-Typed Object Creation

Let's imagine we have a class:

public class Book
{
    public string Title { get; set; }
    public string Author { get; set; }

    public Book()
    {

    }

    public Book(string title, string author)
    {
        Title = title;
        Author = author;
    }
}
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Usually we create objects like follow:

var book = new Book();
// or
Book book = new Book();
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With C# we can do:

Book book2 = new();
Book book3 = new("1", "A1");
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Init-only Setters

Consider we have a class Book

public class Book
{
        public string Title { get; set; }
        public string Author { get; set; }
}
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and we can set values during the initialization. At the same time we can change the values as far as we have a setter for every field as well.

var book = new Book { Author = "1", Title = "2" };
book.Title = "2";
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Imagine a situation where we want only set values during the initialization and we want to restrict them after initialization. In C# 9 Init-only feature comes into play:

public class Book
{
        public string Title { get; init; }
        public string Author { get; init; }
}

var book = new Book { Author = "1", Title = "2" };
book.Title = "2"; // compile error
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Relational & Logical Patterns

Relational patterns permit the programmer to express that an input value must satisfy a relational constraint when compared to a constant value

public class Book{  public string Title { get; set; }   public string Author { get; set; }  public static decimal Postage(decimal price) => price switch    {       < 20 => 6.99m,      >= 20 and < 40 => 5.99m,        >= 40 and < 60 => 2.99m,        _ => 0  };}
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Records

We have a class:

public class Book{    public string Title { get; }    public string Author { get; } public Book(string title, string author)    {          Title = title;          Author = author;    }}
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And let's imagine we want to be able to create a book. We can do it as following:

var book = new Book("Title1", "Author1");
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and also we want to serialize the object and de-serialize

var json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(book);Console.WriteLine(json);var book2 = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Book>(json);var isEqual = book == book2;Console.WriteLine($"book == book2: {isEqual}"); // false
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In console we'll see that de-serialized book is not the same book that was serialized. How can we make them the same? We can override equals operator:

public static bool operator ==(Book left, Book right) =>    left is object ? left.Equals(right) : right is null;
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if we override == operator we also have to override !- operator:

public static bool operator !=(Book left, Book right) => !(left == right);
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But we have not done anything to compare our object yet, so we have to override Equals method:

public override bool Equals(object obj) => obj is Book b && Equals(b);public bool Equals(Book other) => other is object &&  Title == other.Title && Author == other.Author;
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And we need to override GetHashCode and ToString methods.

public override int GetHashCode() => HashCode.Combine(Title, Author);public override string ToString() => $"{Title} - {Author}";
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Also, we have to make our class implement IEquatable<T> interface.

public class Book : IEquatable<Book>
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Finally we have to write a bunch of code for just one simple action. Full class:

public class Book : IEquatable<Book>{   public string Title { get; }   public string Author { get; }   public Book(string title, string author)   {       Title = title;       Author = author;   }   public static bool operator ==(Book left, Book right) =>       left is object ? left.Equals(right) : right is null;   public static bool operator !=(Book left, Book right) => !(left == right);   public override bool Equals(object obj) => obj is Book b && Equals(b);   public bool Equals(Book other) =>       other is object &&       Title == other.Title &&       Author == other.Author;   public override int GetHashCode() => HashCode.Combine(Title, Author);}
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Now Console.WriteLine($"book == book2: {isEqual}"); will output true.

There is a lot of boilerplate code.

Moreover, if we add a new field we will have to update every method.

With C# 9 we can use the record type for the same behavior. It allows making behavior for classes as if they were structures.

record Book(string Title, string Author)
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Extended partial methods

Now we can use modifiers and return values for partial methods.

public partial class Book{  public string Title { get; set; }   public string Author { get; set; }  public decimal Price { get; set; }  private partial decimal SetPrice();}public partial class Book{  private partial decimal SetPrice()  {       return 0m;  }}
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Covariant returns

In C# 9 we can return derived types in overridden methods.

public class Book{  public string Title { get; set; }   public string Author { get; set; }}public class CollectionBook : Book{  public string Edition { get; set; }}public abstract class BookService{  public abstract Book GetBook();}public class CollectionBookService : BookService{   public override CollectionBook GetBook()    {       return new CollectionBook();    }}
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Code: https://github.com/platinum-team/tech-talk-csharp9-features

Cheers!

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saint4eva

Lol