Are structs 'pass-by-value'?

Question

I\'ve recently tried to create a property for a Vector2 field, just to realize that it doesn\'t work as intended.

public Vector2 Position { get;         


        

Answer 1

Just to illustrate the different effects of passing struct vs class through methods:

(note: tested in LINQPad 4)

Example

/// via http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9251608/are-structs-pass-by-value
void Main() {

    // just confirming with delegates
    Action delegateTryUpdateValueType = (t) => {
        t.i += 10;
        t.s += ", appended delegate";
    };

    Action delegateTryUpdateRefType = (t) => {
        t.i += 10;
        t.s += ", appended delegate";
    };

    // initial state
    var structObject = new StructTransport { i = 1, s = "one" };
    var classObject = new ClassTransport { i = 2, s = "two" };

    structObject.Dump("Value Type - initial");
    classObject.Dump("Reference Type - initial");

    // make some changes!
    delegateTryUpdateValueType(structObject);
    delegateTryUpdateRefType(classObject);

    structObject.Dump("Value Type - after delegate");
    classObject.Dump("Reference Type - after delegate");

    methodTryUpdateValueType(structObject);
    methodTryUpdateRefType(classObject);

    structObject.Dump("Value Type - after method");
    classObject.Dump("Reference Type - after method");

    methodTryUpdateValueTypePassByRef(ref structObject);
    methodTryUpdateRefTypePassByRef(ref classObject);

    structObject.Dump("Value Type - after method passed-by-ref");
    classObject.Dump("Reference Type - after method passed-by-ref");
}

// the constructs
public struct StructTransport {
    public int i { get; set; }
    public string s { get; set; }
}
public class ClassTransport {
    public int i { get; set; }
    public string s { get; set; }
}

// the methods
public void methodTryUpdateValueType(StructTransport t) {
    t.i += 100;
    t.s += ", appended method";
}

public void methodTryUpdateRefType(ClassTransport t) {
    t.i += 100;
    t.s += ", appended method";
}

public void methodTryUpdateValueTypePassByRef(ref StructTransport t) {
    t.i += 1000;
    t.s += ", appended method by ref";
}

public void methodTryUpdateRefTypePassByRef(ref ClassTransport t) {
    t.i += 1000;
    t.s += ", appended method by ref";
}

Results

(from LINQPad Dump)

Value Type - initial 
StructTransport 
UserQuery+StructTransport 
i 1 
s one 


Reference Type - initial 
ClassTransport 
UserQuery+ClassTransport 
i 2 
s two 

//------------------------

Value Type - after delegate 
StructTransport 
UserQuery+StructTransport 
i 1 
s one 


Reference Type - after delegate 
ClassTransport 
UserQuery+ClassTransport 
i 12 
s two, appended delegate 

//------------------------

Value Type - after method 
StructTransport 
UserQuery+StructTransport 
i 1 
s one 


Reference Type - after method 
ClassTransport 
UserQuery+ClassTransport 
i 112 
s two, appended delegate, appended method 

//------------------------

Value Type - after method passed-by-ref 
StructTransport 
UserQuery+StructTransport 
i 1001 
s one, appended method by ref 


Reference Type - after method passed-by-ref 
ClassTransport 
UserQuery+ClassTransport 
i 1112 
s two, appended delegate, appended method, appended method by ref