string or String?

[Bogdan]

As a mainly C/C++ and Java developer I was quite surprised when I realized
that C# compiler takes both "string" and "String" types. C# is case
sensitive so I'm a bit puzzled by that. Could someone please explain that
or point me to on-line docs?

thx

 

[sloan]

The string type represents a sequence of zero or more Unicode characters.
string is an alias for String in the .NET Framework.


http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/362314fe(VS.80).aspx

 

[Lasse Vågsæther Karlsen]

As a mainly C/C++ and Java developer I was quite surprised when I realized
that C# compiler takes both "string" and "String" types. C# is case
sensitive so I'm a bit puzzled by that. Could someone please explain that
or point me to on-line docs?

thx

C# has defined its own keywords for the basic types. They all compile to
the type in the BCL that corresponds.

Other such keywords are:

int -> Int32
short -> Int16
ushort -> UInt16
bool -> Boolean
float -> Single
etc.

Note that string and String is 100% identical as string is compiled as
String.

The only place that I know of that one of them can be used and not the
other is when specifying the size of an enum like inheritance:

public enum SomeEnum : int

in this case it is apparently not legal to use Int32 instead of int, for
some odd reason.

 

[Martin Bonner]

As a mainly C/C++ and Java developer I was quite surprised when I realized
that C# compiler takes both "string" and "String" types. C# is case
sensitive so I'm a bit puzzled by that. Could someone please explain that
or point me to on-line docs?

Actually C# doesn't understand a String type. It does understand a
System.String type, and you can refer to that as just String, if you
happen to have a
using System;
statement at the top of your file (and it is some time since I saw a
C# file that /didn't/ have such a statement).

C# does understand the 'string' type, which it internally converts to
System.String32 (much as it converts 'short' to System.Int16).

My personal preference is to always use the C# names, unless I want to
emphasize the exact length of an integer (in which case, I'll use
System.Int64 or whatever).

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

Actually C# doesn't understand a String type. It does understand a
System.String type, and you can refer to that as just String, if you
happen to have a
using System;
statement at the top of your file (and it is some time since I saw a
C# file that /didn't/ have such a statement).

I think most C# programmers will expect it to be there.

C# does understand the 'string' type, which it internally converts to
System.String32 (much as it converts 'short' to System.Int16).
s/32//w

My personal preference is to always use the C# names, unless I want to
emphasize the exact length of an integer (in which case, I'll use
System.Int64 or whatever).

Me too.

But I suspect that it is because I also code in C/C++/Java.

Arne

 

[Martin Bonner]

I think most C# programmers will expect it to be there.


s/32//w

D'oh!

Me too.

But I suspect that it is because I also code in C/C++/Java.

Perhaps, but I think I would recommend it as a good convention even
for a pure C# development.

 

[Marc Gravell]

My personal preference is to always use the C# names, unless I want to

emphasize the exact length of an integer (in which case, I'll use
System.Int64 or whatever).

This is also good practice if you are exposing the name as part of a method
(or other API etc), since the caller could be any language. Examples:
IDataReader.GetInt32(), Convert.ToInt64()

Marc