Microsoft 9GD00001 User Manual

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68
 
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010: A Beginner’s Guide
Key Skills & Concepts
 
Create Classes
 
Write Methods
 
Code Fields and Properties
A
 
type
 is a general term for classes, modules, enums, and more. This chapter will  
 specifically discuss the class type, which allows you to create your own custom types. 
You’ll also see the value of a class when you learn about class members. You’ll see how 
the field, method, and property class members can be used. We’ll start with learning how 
to create and use classes.
Creating Classes
Previously, you learned about the primitive types, which are built into languages and alias 
the underlying .NET types. You can also create your own types, via classes, which you 
can instantiate and create objects with. The following section explains how to create  
a class and then instantiate an object from it.
Class Syntax
To create a new custom class definition, right-click the project, select Add | Class, name 
the class Employee for this example, and type the file extension .cs for C# or .vb for VB; 
then click Add (VS will add this file extension for you if you don’t). You’ll see a file with 
the same code as Listing 3-1.
Listing 3-1 
  A new Employee class
C#:
using System; 
using System.Collections.Generic; 
using System.Linq; 
using System.Text; 
 
namespace FirstProgram