C# uses references instead of pointers. Are C# references the same as C++ references?
Not quite. The basic idea is the same, but one significant difference is that C# references can be null. So you cannot rely on a C# reference pointing to a valid object. If you try to use a null reference, a NullReferenceException is thrown. For example, look at the following method: void displayStringLength( string s ) { Console.WriteLine( “String is length {0}”, s.Length ); } The problem with this method is that it will throw a NullReferenceException if called like this: string s = null; displayStringLength( s ); Of course for some situations you may deem a NullReferenceException to be a perfectly acceptable outcome, but in this case it might be better to re-write the method like this: void displayStringLength( string s ) { if( s == null ) Console.WriteLine( “String is null” ); else Console.WriteLine( “String is length {0}”, s.Length ); } 3.
