Question

I am reviewing a co-worker’s C# console app, and I see this snippet:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Program p = new Program();
        p.RealMain();
    }

    ... non-static RealMain function
}

Presumably, he’s doing this because he wants to have instance-level fields, etc.

I haven’t seen this before, but this style bugs me. Is it a common and accepted practice?

Answer 1

There is a school of thought that says that the main() function of object oriented code should do as little as possible. Main() is an “ugly” throwback to procedural code design, where programs were written in one function, calling subroutines only as necessary. In OOP, all code should be encapsulated in objects that do their jobs when told.

So, by doing this, you reduce the LOC in the main() entry point to two lines, and the real logic of the program is structured and executed in a more O-O fashion.