Question

Suppose I have this code:

struct Normal
{
    public float x;
    public float y;
}

class NormalContainer
{
   public Normal[] Normals
   {
       get; set;
   }
}

class Main
{
     void Run( NormalContainer container )
     {
         Normal[] normals = container.Normals // 1 - see below
         normals[5].x = 4;                    // 3 - see below
         container.Normals = normals;         // 2 - see below
     }
}

Does (1) create a copy of the array or is this a reference to the memory occupied by the array? What about (2) ?

Thanks

Answer 1

(1) copies the array’s reference

(2) same

Array variables are reference types, regardless of their underlying element type, so whenever you assign an array variable to another, you are just copying the reference.