c# string type behaves as value type in Object.MemberWiseClone()-CodePudding

Following the explanation and example of the documentation (long code but very easy to follow, copy pasted directly from the documentation) I found the following:

using System;

public class IdInfo
{
    public int IdNumber;

    public IdInfo(int IdNumber)
    {
        this.IdNumber = IdNumber;
    }
}

public class Person
{
    public int Age;
    public string Name;
    public IdInfo IdInfo;

    public Person ShallowCopy()
    {
       return (Person) this.MemberwiseClone();
    }

    public Person DeepCopy()
    {
       Person other = (Person) this.MemberwiseClone();
       other.IdInfo = new IdInfo(IdInfo.IdNumber);
       other.Name = String.Copy(Name);
       return other;
    }
}

public class Example
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        // Create an instance of Person and assign values to its fields.
        Person p1 = new Person();
        p1.Age = 42;
        p1.Name = "Sam";
        p1.IdInfo = new IdInfo(6565);

        // Perform a shallow copy of p1 and assign it to p2.
        Person p2 = p1.ShallowCopy();

        // Display values of p1, p2
        Console.WriteLine("Original values of p1 and p2:");
        Console.WriteLine("   p1 instance values: ");
        DisplayValues(p1);
        Console.WriteLine("   p2 instance values:");
        DisplayValues(p2);

        // Change the value of p1 properties and display the values of p1 and p2.
        p1.Age = 32;
        p1.Name = "Frank";
        p1.IdInfo.IdNumber = 7878;
        Console.WriteLine("\nValues of p1 and p2 after changes to p1:");
        Console.WriteLine("   p1 instance values: ");
        DisplayValues(p1);
        Console.WriteLine("   p2 instance values:");
        DisplayValues(p2);

        // Make a deep copy of p1 and assign it to p3.
        Person p3 = p1.DeepCopy();
        // Change the members of the p1 class to new values to show the deep copy.
        p1.Name = "George";
        p1.Age = 39;
        p1.IdInfo.IdNumber = 8641;
        Console.WriteLine("\nValues of p1 and p3 after changes to p1:");
        Console.WriteLine("   p1 instance values: ");
        DisplayValues(p1);
        Console.WriteLine("   p3 instance values:");
        DisplayValues(p3);
    }

    public static void DisplayValues(Person p)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("      Name: {0:s}, Age: {1:d}", p.Name, p.Age);
        Console.WriteLine("      Value: {0:d}", p.IdInfo.IdNumber);
    }
}

In the second output I expected the p2.Name to be Frank as string is a reference type according to the documentation, so should be affected by the name change in the original object.

// The example displays the following output:
//       Original values of p1 and p2:
//          p1 instance values:
//             Name: Sam, Age: 42
//             Value: 6565
//          p2 instance values:
//             Name: Sam, Age: 42
//             Value: 6565
//
//       Values of p1 and p2 after changes to p1:
//          p1 instance values:
//             Name: Frank, Age: 32
//             Value: 7878
//          p2 instance values:
//             Name: Sam, Age: 42   ---> EXPECTED FRANK HERE
//             Value: 7878
//
//       Values of p1 and p3 after changes to p1:
//          p1 instance values:
//             Name: George, Age: 39
//             Value: 8641
//          p3 instance values:
//             Name: Frank, Age: 32
//             Value: 7878

Actually both fields are dealt with in the DeepCopy method:

other.IdInfo = new IdInfo(IdInfo.IdNumber);
other.Name = String.Copy(Name);

Why is then the IdInfo.Value affected by the change of the original object and the Name its not if both are reference types?

CodePudding user response：

Nothing here would depend on whether string is a reference vs value type. You create a clone of the Person - at that point, both p1 and p2 have the .Name pointing at the same string object. You then change the .Name on p1. Importantly: *this doesn't impact the string at all - it simply changes p1 to point at a completely different string. That is all that is happening here.

Since strings are outwardly immutable, you are almost always changing values to point at completely different strings; you (almost) never actually change a string that exists, so: whether it is reference type or value type is very rarely relevant, except in terms of understanding memory usage.

For that same reason: there's really no need to call string.Copy, and string.Copy could be implemented as just return value; (it isn't, though - I checked)