What are Value Types in .NET?

Each variable you use in your .NET program will be of a specific type. Most commonly used type in .NET is the value types.

Here is an example demonstrating usage of few value types and performing operations between value types:
class sampleClass {
public static void Main() {
int intVar1 = 100;
int intVar2 = intVar1;
Console.WriteLine("intVar1 = {0}, intVar2 = {1}", intVar1, intVar2);
double doubleVar1 = intVar1 + 1.3;
intVar2 = (int) doubleVar1;
Console.WriteLine("doubleVar1= {0}, intVar2 = {1}", doubleVar1, intVar2);
bool boolValue = (intVar2 % 2 == 0);
char charValue = 'A';
Console.WriteLine("boolValue= + boolValue +" ,charValue = " + charValue);
}
}
Output of this code will be:
intVar1 = 100, intVar2 = 100
doubleVar1 = 101.3, intVar2 = 101
boolValue = false , charValue = A

Value types are similar to primitive types in other languages. But there is an interesting feature in .NET that differentiates it from others. In .NET, value types are also inherited from System.Object. Hence they also have the characteristics of Object. Here is an example to demonstrate that:
class sampleClass {
public static void Main() {
int intVar1 = 100;
Console.WriteLine("intVar1 = " + intVar1.toString();
}
}
Output of this code will be:
intVar1 = 100

The toString() method belongs to an Object. But it works fine with value types. This is because value types are also inherited from objects. However value types are primitive in nature thereby avoiding the performance overhead in objects. Any time, value types can be assigned to and from objects by performing boxing and unboxing respectively.

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