Casting Dynamic and var to Object in C#
Consider these functions:
static void Take(object o)
{
Console.WriteLine("Received an object");
}
static void Take(int i)
{
Console.WriteLine("Received an integer");
}
When I call the Take function this way:
var a = (object)2;
Take(a);
I get :Received an object
But if call it like:
dynamic b = (object) 2;
Take(b);
I get:Received an integer
Both parameters (a & b) are cast to object. But why compiler has this behavior?
var is just a syntactic sugar to let the type to be decided by the RHS.
In your code:
var a = (object)2;
is equivalent to:
object a = (object)2;
You get an object, since you boxed 2 to an object.
For dynamic, you might want to have a look at Using Type dynamic. Note that The type is a static type, but an object of type dynamic bypasses static type checking, that is, the type you specified of:
dynamic b = (object) 2;
is bypassed, and the real type of it is resolved at runtime.
For how it's resolved at runtime, I believe it's much more complicated than you can imagine ..
Say you have the following code:
public static class TestClass {
public static void Take(object o) {
Console.WriteLine("Received an object");
}
public static void Take(int i) {
Console.WriteLine("Received an integer");
}
public static void TestMethod() {
var a=(object)2;
Take(a);
dynamic b=(object)2;
Take(b);
}
}
and I put the full IL(of debug configuration) at the rear of my answer.
For these two lines:
var a=(object)2;
Take(a);
the IL are only:
IL_0001: ldc.i4.2
IL_0002: box [mscorlib]System.Int32
IL_0007: stloc.0
IL_0008: ldloc.0
IL_0009: call void TestClass::Take(object)
But for these two:
dynamic b=(object)2;
Take(b);
are from IL_000f to IL_007a of TestMethod. It doesn't call the Take(object) or Take(int) directly, but invokes the method like this way:
object b = 2;
if (TestClass.<TestMethod>o__SiteContainer0.<>p__Site1 == null)
{
TestClass.<TestMethod>o__SiteContainer0.<>p__Site1 = CallSite<Action<CallSite, Type, object>>.Create(Binder.InvokeMember(CSharpBinderFlags.ResultDiscarded, "Take", null, typeof(TestClass), new CSharpArgumentInfo[]
{
CSharpArgumentInfo.Create(CSharpArgumentInfoFlags.UseCompileTimeType | CSharpArgumentInfoFlags.IsStaticType, null),
CSharpArgumentInfo.Create(CSharpArgumentInfoFlags.None, null)
}));
}
TestClass.<TestMethod>o__SiteContainer0.<>p__Site1.Target(TestClass.<TestMethod>o__SiteContainer0.<>p__Site1, typeof(TestClass), b);
The full IL of TestClass:
.class public auto ansi abstract sealed beforefieldinit TestClass
extends [mscorlib]System.Object
{
// Nested Types
.class nested private auto ansi abstract sealed beforefieldinit '<TestMethod>o__SiteContainer0'
extends [mscorlib]System.Object
{
.custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CompilerGeneratedAttribute::.ctor() = (
01 00 00 00
)
// Fields
.field public static class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite`1<class [mscorlib]System.Action`3<class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite, class [mscorlib]System.Type, object>> '<>p__Site1'
} // end of class <TestMethod>o__SiteContainer0
// Methods
.method public hidebysig static
void Take (
object o
) cil managed
{
// Method begins at RVA 0x2050
// Code size 13 (0xd)
.maxstack 8
IL_0000: nop
IL_0001: ldstr "Received an object"
IL_0006: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(string)
IL_000b: nop
IL_000c: ret
} // end of method TestClass::Take
.method public hidebysig static
void Take (
int32 i
) cil managed
{
// Method begins at RVA 0x205e
// Code size 13 (0xd)
.maxstack 8
IL_0000: nop
IL_0001: ldstr "Received an integer"
IL_0006: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(string)
IL_000b: nop
IL_000c: ret
} // end of method TestClass::Take
.method public hidebysig static
void TestMethod () cil managed
{
// Method begins at RVA 0x206c
// Code size 129 (0x81)
.maxstack 8
.locals init (
[0] object a,
[1] object b,
[2] class [Microsoft.CSharp]Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.CSharpArgumentInfo[] CS$0$0000
)
IL_0000: nop
IL_0001: ldc.i4.2
IL_0002: box [mscorlib]System.Int32
IL_0007: stloc.0
IL_0008: ldloc.0
IL_0009: call void TestClass::Take(object)
IL_000e: nop
IL_000f: ldc.i4.2
IL_0010: box [mscorlib]System.Int32
IL_0015: stloc.1
IL_0016: ldsfld class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite`1<class [mscorlib]System.Action`3<class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite, class [mscorlib]System.Type, object>> TestClass/'<TestMethod>o__SiteContainer0'::'<>p__Site1'
IL_001b: brtrue.s IL_0060
IL_001d: ldc.i4 256
IL_0022: ldstr "Take"
IL_0027: ldnull
IL_0028: ldtoken TestClass
IL_002d: call class [mscorlib]System.Type [mscorlib]System.Type::GetTypeFromHandle(valuetype [mscorlib]System.RuntimeTypeHandle)
IL_0032: ldc.i4.2
IL_0033: newarr [Microsoft.CSharp]Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.CSharpArgumentInfo
IL_0038: stloc.2
IL_0039: ldloc.2
IL_003a: ldc.i4.0
IL_003b: ldc.i4.s 33
IL_003d: ldnull
IL_003e: call class [Microsoft.CSharp]Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.CSharpArgumentInfo [Microsoft.CSharp]Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.CSharpArgumentInfo::Create(valuetype [Microsoft.CSharp]Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.CSharpArgumentInfoFlags, string)
IL_0043: stelem.ref
IL_0044: ldloc.2
IL_0045: ldc.i4.1
IL_0046: ldc.i4.0
IL_0047: ldnull
IL_0048: call class [Microsoft.CSharp]Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.CSharpArgumentInfo [Microsoft.CSharp]Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.CSharpArgumentInfo::Create(valuetype [Microsoft.CSharp]Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.CSharpArgumentInfoFlags, string)
IL_004d: stelem.ref
IL_004e: ldloc.2
IL_004f: call class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSiteBinder [Microsoft.CSharp]Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.Binder::InvokeMember(valuetype [Microsoft.CSharp]Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.CSharpBinderFlags, string, class [mscorlib]System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1<class [mscorlib]System.Type>, class [mscorlib]System.Type, class [mscorlib]System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1<class [Microsoft.CSharp]Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.CSharpArgumentInfo>)
IL_0054: call class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite`1<!0> class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite`1<class [mscorlib]System.Action`3<class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite, class [mscorlib]System.Type, object>>::Create(class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSiteBinder)
IL_0059: stsfld class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite`1<class [mscorlib]System.Action`3<class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite, class [mscorlib]System.Type, object>> TestClass/'<TestMethod>o__SiteContainer0'::'<>p__Site1'
IL_005e: br.s IL_0060
IL_0060: ldsfld class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite`1<class [mscorlib]System.Action`3<class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite, class [mscorlib]System.Type, object>> TestClass/'<TestMethod>o__SiteContainer0'::'<>p__Site1'
IL_0065: ldfld !0 class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite`1<class [mscorlib]System.Action`3<class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite, class [mscorlib]System.Type, object>>::Target
IL_006a: ldsfld class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite`1<class [mscorlib]System.Action`3<class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite, class [mscorlib]System.Type, object>> TestClass/'<TestMethod>o__SiteContainer0'::'<>p__Site1'
IL_006f: ldtoken TestClass
IL_0074: call class [mscorlib]System.Type [mscorlib]System.Type::GetTypeFromHandle(valuetype [mscorlib]System.RuntimeTypeHandle)
IL_0079: ldloc.1
IL_007a: callvirt instance void class [mscorlib]System.Action`3<class [System.Core]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallSite, class [mscorlib]System.Type, object>::Invoke(!0, !1, !2)
IL_007f: nop
IL_0080: ret
} // end of method TestClass::TestMethod
} // end of class TestClass
dynamic:
-
dynamicis aDynamically typed - Dynamically typed - This means the type of variable declared is decided by the compiler at run time.
var:
-
varis aStatically typed - Statically typed – This means the type of variable declared is decided by the compiler at compile time.
By this, you see that Overload resolution occurs at run time for dynamic.
So variable b holds as int
dynamic b = (object) 2;
Take(b);
That's the reason why Take(b); calls Take(int i)
static void Take(int i)
{
Console.WriteLine("Received an integer");
}
But in the case of var a = (object)2, variable a holds as 'object'
var a = (object)2;
Take(a);
That's the reason why Take(a); calls Take(object o)
static void Take(object o)
{
Console.WriteLine("Received an object");
}