Question

class Program
{
    private static bool _ret = true;

    static void Main()
    {
        _ret &= Method();
        Console.WriteLine(_ret);
        Console.Read();
    }

    private static bool Method()
    {
        _ret &= false;
        return true;
    }
}

We came across this issue in a larger application we are developing and was wondering if it was expected functionality? This is written in c# with Visual Studio 2010

Answer 1

As explained by Eric Lippert in his blog post “Precedence vs Associativity vs Order”,

The expression F() + G() * H() is equivalent to F() + (G() * H()), but
C# does NOT evaluate G() * H() before F(). Rather, this is equivalent
to:

temp1 = F();

temp2 = G();

temp3 = H();

temp4 = temp2 * temp3;

result = temp1 + temp4;

So in your case, it evaluates _ret prior to calling Method(), and the fact that _ret changes inside Method() does not affect the outer call.

See: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2008/05/23/precedence-vs-associativity-vs-order.aspx