C# – What happens behind the scenes when you set an Int32 equal to an Int16

cnetruntime

What goes on at a low level when I do this?

Int32 a = 0;
Int16 b = 50;

a = b;

Best Answer

Something like this:

IL_0001:  /* 1F   | 32               */ ldc.i4.s   50
IL_0003:  /* 0B   |                  */ stloc.1
IL_0004:  /* 07   |                  */ ldloc.1
IL_0005:  /* 0A   |                  */ stloc.0

At a lower level, it depends on the machine architecture and optimization level. Code like this specifically, that has no effect, will probably just be omitted altogether. Otherwise, it'll be simple code, perhaps like this:

movsx eax, word ptr [ebp+12]
mov [ebp+8], eax

movsx is the x86 instruction which preserves the sign of a shorter number when it's being loaded into a larger destination; basically, it looks at the most significant bit of the smaller source and copies it into the remaining bits when it's extending the number.

Related Solutions

C# – Calling the base constructor in C#

Modify your constructor to the following so that it calls the base class constructor properly:

public class MyExceptionClass : Exception
{
    public MyExceptionClass(string message, string extrainfo) : base(message)
    {
        //other stuff here
    }
}

Note that a constructor is not something that you can call anytime within a method. That's the reason you're getting errors in your call in the constructor body.

C# – the difference between const and readonly in C#

Apart from the apparent difference of

having to declare the value at the time of a definition for a const VS readonly values can be computed dynamically but need to be assigned before the constructor exits.. after that it is frozen.
const's are implicitly static. You use a ClassName.ConstantName notation to access them.

There is a subtle difference. Consider a class defined in AssemblyA.

public class Const_V_Readonly
{
  public const int I_CONST_VALUE = 2;
  public readonly int I_RO_VALUE;
  public Const_V_Readonly()
  {
     I_RO_VALUE = 3;
  }
}

AssemblyB references AssemblyA and uses these values in code. When this is compiled:

in the case of the const value, it is like a find-replace. The value 2 is 'baked into' the AssemblyB's IL. This means that if tomorrow I update I_CONST_VALUE to 20, AssemblyB would still have 2 till I recompile it.
in the case of the readonly value, it is like a ref to a memory location. The value is not baked into AssemblyB's IL. This means that if the memory location is updated, AssemblyB gets the new value without recompilation. So if I_RO_VALUE is updated to 30, you only need to build AssemblyA and all clients do not need to be recompiled.

So if you are confident that the value of the constant won't change, use a const.

public const int CM_IN_A_METER = 100;

But if you have a constant that may change (e.g. w.r.t. precision).. or when in doubt, use a readonly.

public readonly float PI = 3.14;

Update: Aku needs to get a mention because he pointed this out first. Also I need to plug where I learned this: Effective C# - Bill Wagner

Best Answer

Related Solutions

C# – Calling the base constructor in C#

C# – the difference between const and readonly in C#

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