In my city Bursa, winter months are known for making people want to do something warming. Recently, my spouse and I were looking at old photos, I think I was in high school then, and what do I see? An article I wrote on a forum site for the first time! The topic was, naturally, something related to C#. I remember how eager I was to learn everything back then, and now I find myself laughing at my old writings, but that excitement still seems to linger somewhere inside. Anyway, let’s get back to our main topic.
Now, there are these Anonymous Types and Dynamic, you know, they really make some things in the C# world very easy, but sometimes they also make you think a bit. Like, you’re writing a program, a lot of data is coming in, how will you group and use this data? That’s exactly where these two friends come into play.
First, let’s look at Anonymous Types. As the name suggests, they are anonymous types. So, you’re not defining a class like ‘public class Product { public string Name { get; set; } … }’. You get the data, choose only what you need, and create a new type. This type has no name, just a structure you’ll use for the moment. Isn’t that nice? Sometimes, when writing my own program, I don’t want to define a class just for one field, and that’s where Anonymous Types save the day.
For example, you’re pulling data from a database, but not all fields are needed. Only the product name and price are required. You can do something like this:
var productInfo = new { Name = "Laptop", Price = 15000m };This is it! Now, you have a variable called ‘productInfo’ and inside it, only ‘Name’ and ‘Price’. Nothing else. This keeps your code cleaner, avoiding unnecessary class definitions. Of course, these types are only valid within the scope they are defined, so you can’t directly pass them from one method to another, but they meet temporary needs.
Now, let’s move on to Dynamic. It’s a different world. Dynamic performs type checking at runtime, not at compile time. So, when you define a variable as ‘dynamic’, you can assign any property or method to it. This initially appears to be a fantastic flexibility, right? It’s especially useful when working with external data, such as parsing JSON data. Sometimes, the structure of incoming data isn’t fully known, and what will happen is uncertain. That’s where dynamic allows you to handle the data as if that structure exists.
But here’s a catch. You need to be careful when using dynamic. Because, errors can’t be caught at compile time. Basically, everything looks fine when you write the code, but when you run the program, if the dynamic variable lacks the property you’re trying to access, it crashes! I had this happen once, working on a program, and after hours of struggle, I realized I made a simple typo that caused the flow to break. That’s when I said, dynamic is great, but should be used with caution.
By the way, the dynamic feature introduced with C# 4.0 makes working with COM objects and similar things much easier. Previously, working with such objects was more cumbersome. Now, you can write smoother code.
Let’s compare with an example. Suppose you have a JSON string and want to parse it. If you use Anonymous Types, you need to first define a class, then deserialize the JSON into that class. If you use dynamic, you can directly deserialize to a dynamic variable and access properties as if they exist. For example:
// With Anonymous Type (simplified example, real parsing is more detailed) public class PersonData { public string Name { get; set; } public int Age { get; set; } } // ... // var personObject = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<PersonData>(jsonString); // Console.WriteLine(personObject.Name);// With Dynamic (simplified example, real parsing is more detailed) // JObject dynObject = JObject.Parse(jsonString); // dynamic dynamicPerson = dynObject; // Console.WriteLine(dynamicPerson.Name);
Here, the Anonymous Type is safer because you can check at compile time if the ‘Name’ property exists. Dynamic offers more flexibility but is prone to runtime errors. Choosing which to use depends on your project’s needs and risk tolerance.
In conclusion, Anonymous Types and Dynamic are powerful tools offered to C# developers. Anonymous Types allow creating temporary, unnamed data structures and simplifying your code. Dynamic provides runtime flexibility. But remember, every powerful tool also carries risks. When using dynamic, be especially cautious, anticipate potential errors, and take necessary precautions. Otherwise, you might get stuck like I did 🙂
Sometimes in Bursa, the weather gets so beautiful that you want to go outside. Last weekend, my spouse and I planned a camping trip, but suddenly the weather turned bad. Luckily, it cleared up quickly, and we could spend a few hours immersed in nature. Moments like these give energy and remind us how important it is sometimes to step away from the computer and focus on different things.
If you want to learn more about these topics, you can check Microsoft’s official documentation. You’ll find many examples and explanations there. Anonymous Types and Dynamic Types contain detailed information. Also, there are excellent tutorials on YouTube if you’re interested.
Ultimately, these two features make coding more enjoyable. But, as always, knowledge comes with responsibility. Using these tools consciously benefits both you and your project. What do you think?