Classes and objects

Classes are the most fundamental of C#’s types. A class is a data structure that combines state (fields) and actions (methods and other function members) in a single unit. A class provides a definition for dynamically created instances of the class, also known as objects. Classes support inheritance and polymorphism, mechanisms whereby derived classes can extend and specialize base classes.

New classes are created using class declarations. A class declaration starts with a header that specifies the attributes and modifiers of the class, the name of the class, the base class (if given), and the interfaces implemented by the class. The header is followed by the class body, which consists of a list of member declarations written between the delimiters { and }.

The following is a declaration of a simple class named Point:

public class Point
{
public int x, y;

public Point(int x, int y) {
this.x = x;
this.y = y;
}
}

Instances of classes are created using the new operator, which allocates memory for a new instance, invokes a constructor to initialize the instance, and returns a reference to the instance. The following statements create two Point objects and store references to those objects in two variables:

Point p1 = new Point(0, 0);
Point p2 = new Point(10, 20);

The memory occupied by an object is automatically reclaimed when the object is no longer in use. It is neither necessary nor possible to explicitly deallocate objects in C#.