Question

In C# you can make a block inside of a method that is not attached to any other statement.

    public void TestMethod()     {         {             string x = 'test';             string y = x;              {                 int z = 42;                 int zz = z;             }         }     } 

This code compiles and runs just as if the braces inside the main method weren’t there. Also notice the block inside of a block.

Is there a scenario where this would be valuable? I haven’t found any yet, but am curious to hear of other people’s findings.

Answer 1

Scope and garbage collection: When you leave the unattached block, any variables declared in it go out of scope. That lets the garbage collector clean up those objects.

Ray Hayes points out that the .NET garbage collector will not immediately collect the out-of-scope objects, so scoping is the main benefit.