Using nullable types in C#

Question

I'm just interested in people's opinions. When using nullable types in C# what is the best practice way to test for null:

bool isNull = (i == null);

or

bool isNull = !i.HasValue;

Also when assigning to a non-null type is this:

long? i = 1;
long j = (long)i;

better than:

long? i = 1;
long j = i.Value;

Answer 1

I would use this:

long? i = 1;
...some code...
long j = i ?? 0;

That means, if i is null , than 0 will be assigned.

Answer 2

Use the forms that were specially implemented for you by the C# team. If anyone objects, tell them Anders said it was okay.

What I'm saying, flippantly, is that a lot of work went into integrating nullable types into c# to give you a good programming experience.

Note that in terms of performance, both forms compile down to the same IL, ie:

int? i = 1;
bool isINull = i == null;
int j = (int)i;

Ends up like this after the C# compiler has got to it:

int? i = 1;
bool isINull = !i.HasValue;
int j = i.Value;

Answer 3

I would always use the (i==null) form. It expresses what you are doing.

WRT the second question, I think either form is fine. However I'd always check it against null first and take appropriate action - perhaps wrapping that check and action up in a helper method (often it just sets a default value).

Answer 4

I haven't used Nullable Types in practice, but for the second, I'd actually suggest using j.GetValueOrDefault(). The documentation suggests that the latter would actually throw an InvalidOperationException in the event of a null value. Depending on the internal implementation of the explict cast operator for long?, the former might, too. I'd stick with GetValueOrDefault and treat the null/default case appropriately.

Answer 5

我倾向于使用第一个，因为它需要在其生命周期的后期得到支持，这些似乎更容易理解原作者的意图。

Answer 6

Opened up Reflector. HasValue is a lookup on a boolean flag which is set when the value is changed. So in terms of cycles a lookup is going to be faster then compare.

public Nullable(T value)
{
    this.value = value;
    this.hasValue = true;
}

private bool hasValue;

internal T value;

public bool HasValue
{
    get
    {
        return this.hasValue;
    }
}

Answer 7

它们都是相同的，但我会在两者上使用前一个版本，因为它在语言中更常见：与null比较并转换为类型。

Answer 8

我通常倾向于倾向于两个场景中的第一个选项，因为它更倾向于面向对象的“原始”（这实际上就是我们想要的），但它真的无关紧要