C# Polymorphism

Question

What\'s the difference between run-time polymorphism and compile-time polymorphism? Also, what\'s the difference between early binding and late binding? Examples woul

Answer 1

UPDATE: Please see Eric Lippert’s comments to this answer.

In C#2 all binding is early, because C#2 is a statically-typed language. A late binding language would be one in which the method binding occurs at run time. (C#4 includes a late binding feature with the introduction of dynamic.)

I am not sure what you mean by run time vs. compile time polymorphism.

The C# compiler will determine at compile time which method overload will be called. The run-time type of an instance will determine which implementation of a particular method overload will be executed. This is still considered early binding even though it happens at run time, because the selected method is constrained to be an implementation of a specific virtual method overload, and it is not possible for such a call to generate a type-related exception such as can occur with a dynamic language and late binding.