Question

If I write a class in C# that implements IDisposable, why isn’t is sufficient for me to simply implement

public void Dispose(){ ... }  

to handle freeing any unmanaged resources?

Is

protected virtual void Dispose(bool disposing){ ... } 

always necessary, sometimes necessary, or something else altogether?

Answer 1

It’s not strictly necessary. It is part of the recommended Disposable pattern. If you haven’t read the Framework Design Guidelines section on this (9.3 in the first edition, don’t have the second edition handy sorry) then you should. Try this link.

It’s useful for distinguishing between disposable cleanup and finalizable garbage-collection-is-trashing-me.

You don’t have to do it that way but you should read up on it and understand why this is recommended before discounting it as unnecessary.