Information About the Keyword “using” in C#
In the C# language, using is one of many incredibly important identifiers because it offers great help when it comes to improving code readability and structural organization. One of it is to manage namespaces, the second one is to facilitate resource cleanup and the third one is to provide ability to enable Ad-hoc functionality using directives. Knowledge of their different roles is important when coding C# programs that will be easy to read and well optimized.
Purpose 1: Importing Namespaces
The first and the most common purpose of using keyword is to bring one or many namespaces into code. Using declarations allow you to apply directives at the beginning of a file and thus display classes or methods in namespaces without having to specify their full name.
Example:
using System;
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
Writing the statement – Console.WriteLine(“Hello, World!”);
} }
In this case the using System; directive enables direct use of the Console class. Without it you would need to write System.Console.WriteLine() in case of targeting Silverlight or .NET 4 and above.
Purpose 2: Management of Resources with using Statements
The using keyword is also employed to desist from resource mishandling and ensure the right disposal of the same is done. This is especially helpful for the objects that have implementation of IDisposable interface, like file streams, database connections_money and all the other un-managed resources. Something which behaves like IDisposable is that when you use, let’s say, an object which implements this interface by putting them into the using statement, you can be assured that that object will be disposed at the end of using it.
Example:
using System.IO;
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
By employing (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(“example.txt”)) {
writer.WriteLine(“This text will be written to the file.”);
// Dispose is used here to close the StreamWriter. } }
In this case, the StreamWriter object is closed and disposed after the program leaves the using block ; this is because using block takes care of the disposal of the object after its use
Purpose 3: Aliasing Namespaces and Types
The using keyword can be used to refer to namespace or class in a new name so that it will be easier to name them whenever the programmer is coding. This is particularly helpful when dealing with long or conflicting names because the system is designed to keep separating these complicated names Already coded into the system!
Example:
using Project = MyApplication.SubNamespace.Project;
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
Project myProject = new Project();
}
}
Here, the alias named Project makes usage of MyApplication.SubNamespace.Project class more convenient. Purpose
4: Static Using Directives
In C# 6.0, new static using directives make it possible for you to import the static members of a class, and so you get to use it in the querky of the class name.
Example:
using static System.Math;
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
double result = Sqrt(16); // No need to write Math.Sqrt
Console.WriteLine(result);
}
}
As in this example on the right: using static System.Math; makes it possible to directly use Math methods such as Sqrt.
Best Practices
1.Minimize Namespace Pollution: Do not include a large number of namespaces to minimize confusion and increase the response rate as well.
2.Use using Blocks for Disposable Resources: You should always use IDisposable objects by enclosing them in ‘using’ statements to avoid mess.
3.Alias Only When Necessary: DO use aliases selectively and only more frequently where it enhances understandability.
Conclusion
The using keyword in C# is very general and practical, and frambers can use to produce much easier and understandable code. Therefore, it is important to have a good understanding of what using is capable of, be it in the use of namespaces, resources or aliases. Using this keyword, you are ready to make your code clean and attractive and you can move for developing strong applications.
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