Given that I have already covered value types - this should be pretty quick. Reference types have the following characteristics:
- They are allocated on the heap.
- There is a pointer on the stack which points to the location on the heap.
- The .NET runtime automatically dereferences reference types.
- Reference types are copied by reference.
- You can _sometimes_ use the Clone method to get a deep or shallow copy of an object but it is by no means guaranteed.
- When you pass a reference type by reference you end up with a double pointer, and the runtime still automatically dereferences it for you!
That should just about cover it
posted on Saturday, November 19, 2005 10:50 PM