Can I modify a passed method parameter
You can change it but the change will not go back to the caller.
If it is a ValueType -> The copy of object is sent
If it is a RefernceType -> Copy of Object reference will be sent by value. In this way properties of the object can be changed but not the reference itself - caller will not see the change anyway.
If it is sent ref
-> Reference can be changed.
In C++ you can use const
to prevent the change but C# does not have that. This is only to prevent the programmer by mistake try to change it - depending where the const
is used.
Changes to the value of a parameter are invisible to the caller, unless it's a ref
or out
parameter.
That's not the case if you make a change to an reference type object referred to by a parameter. For example:
public void Foo(StringBuilder b)
{
// Changes the value of the parameter (b) - not seen by caller
b = new StringBuilder();
}
public void Bar(StringBuilder b)
{
// Changes the contents of the StringBuilder referred to by b's value -
// this will be seen by the caller
b.Append("Hello");
}
Finally, if the parameter is passed by reference, the change is seen:
public void Baz(ref StringBuilder b)
{
// This change *will* be seen
b = new StringBuilder();
}
For more on this, see my article on parameter passing.