Question

I got this assignment which to declare a method like this…

public List<Contact> GetLastContacts([int count = 20])  
{  
    return this._entities.ContactsSet.ToList();  
}

What I don’t understand and can’t find info about is [int count = 20] as parameter…

Anyone got an explanation on what they mean?

/Best regards!

Answer 1

int count = 20 in a parameter declares it as a default value for the parameter. It makes the parameter optional for callers (or rather look optional for callers).

So, in a method calling it you can do:

var contacts = GetLastContacts(); // Will compile to GetLastContacts(20)

Or, to use a value to override the default:

var contacts = GetLastContacts(35); 

See Named and Optional arguments on MSDN.