Question

Something I’ve been thinking about from time to time: Why is the typeof operator needed in C#? Doesn’t the compiler know that public class Animal is a type just by the very definition? Why do I need to specify SomeMethod(typeof(Animal)) when I need to reference a type?

Answer 1

typeof(Class) is the only way to express Type as a literal. When you write Class.SomeField you mean static field. When you write typeof(Class).SomeField you reference field of object of class Type that represents your class.