What is the need for unsafe code in C#?

If you were using C, C++ languages before developing applications using C#, then you would have extensively used pointers. Hence while using C#, you might find it difficult to get rid of pointers completely and of course there might be situations which require direct accessing of memory.

public class sampleClass {
public static void Main() {
unsafe {
int sampleInt = 500;
int* ptr_sampleInt = &sampleInt;
Console.WriteLine(“sampleInt = “ + sampleInt);
Console.WriteLine(“Address of sampleInt = ” + (int)ptr_sampleInt);
* ptr_sampleInt -= 10;
Console.WriteLine(“sampleInt = “ + ptr_sampleInt->ToString());
}
}
}

In this code, you use a pointer to point to address of an integer. When you execute this code, you will end up in the following error:

“Unsafe code may only appear if compiling with /unsafe”

This is because using unsafe code might be harmful because memory is directly accessed. Hence while compiling the User should be aware that unsafe code is present in the program. For that, User is asked to explicitly compile such program with /unsafe option as shown below:
csc /unsafe sampleClass.cs

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