For Intermediates: C# Methods.(part-1)

For Intermediates: C# Methods.(part-1)

Definition:

A method is a code block containing a series of statements. Methods must be declared within a class or a structure. It is a good programming practice that methods do only one specific task. Methods bring modularity to programs. 

We  need to be able to break large programs into smaller chunks that are easy to handle. C# lets you divide your class code into chunks known as methods. Properly designed and implemented methods can greatly simplify the job of writing complex programs in c#.Methods change the state of the objects created. They are the dynamic part of the objects; data is the static part.

Example:

 using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

namespace ConsoleApplication6

{

    class Sample

{

public int a; // Nonstatic

public static int b;   // Static

public void InstanceMethod()   // Nonstatic

{

Console.WriteLine(“instance method”);

}

public static void ClassMethod()   // Static

{

Console.WriteLine(“ class method”);

}

}

        static void Main(string[] args)

{

        Sample ex = new Sample(); 

    ex.a = 1; 

    Sample.b=2;

}

}                           

// in the above code indicate it is comments and the code follows // will not be executed.

                                                                     

 In the above programming example to invoke a nonstatic — instance — method, you need an instance of the class. To invoke a static — class — method, you call via the class name, not an instance. The following code snippet assigns a value to the object data member a and the class, or static, member b. note in the above program static keyword is used to indicate static variable and static methods.

Sample ex = new Sample(); // Create an instance of class Example.

ex.a = 1; // Initialize instance member through instance.

Sample.b = 2; // Initialize class member through class

The following snippet defines and accesses InstanceMethod() and ClassMethod() in almost the same way:

Sample ex=new Sample();

ex.InstanceMethod();

Sample.classMethod();

The expression ex.InstanceMethod() passes control to the code contained within the method. C# follows an almost identical process for Sample.ClassMethod().

Output:

instance method

class method

After a method completes execution, it returns control to the point where it was called. That is, control moves to the next statement after the call.

Sample :

We start with a simple example.

using System;

public class Base

{

    public void viewInfo()

    {

        Console.WriteLine("Base class");

    }

}

public class SimpleMethod

{

    static void Main()

    {

        Base bs = new Base();

        bs.viewInfo();

    }

}

Each method must be defined inside a class or a struct. It must have a name. In our case the name is ViewInfo. The keywords that precede the name of the method are access specifier and the return type. Parentheses follow the name of the method. They may contain parameters of the method. Our method does not take any parameters.

static void Main()

{

   ...

}

Passing an argument to a method

The values you input to a method are method arguments, or parameters.Most methods require some type of arguments if they’re going to do somethingYou pass arguments to a method by listing them in the parentheses that follow the method name. Consider this small addition to the earlier Sample class:

public class Sample

{

public static void Output(string someString)

{

Console.WriteLine(“Output() was passed the argument: “ + someString);

}

}

I could invoke this method from within the same class, like this:

Output(“Hai”);

I would then see this not-too-exciting output:

Output() was passed the argument: Hai
----will continue