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Object-oriented Programming
in C#

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Introduction to Object-
Oriented Programming
in C#

Classes and Objects

Introduction to Objects and Classes

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Declaration and Implementation

Accessing the Class Members

Access Modifiers

Fields

Methods

Static and Non-Static Methods

The 'this' Reference Variable

Static and Non-Static Methods
In this lesson, we will discuss static and non-static methods.

We'll cover the following

• Static and Non-Static Methods

• Static Methods
• Non-Static Methods

Static and Non-Static Methods

Methods can be of static or non-static, also known as instance methods, type. Let’s
have a brief discussion about these.

Static Methods
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Static methods, just like static variables, can be called from another class without
instantiating/creating an object of the class. These methods can be called using the
class’ name. Let’s check this out in our code:

1 class VendingMachine {
2
3 static string manufacturer = "Vendy Inc.";
4
5 public static void PrintManufacturer() { //static method
 6 Console.WriteLine("The manufacturer of machine is {0}", manufacturer);
7 }
8
9 }
10
11 class Demo {
12
13 public static void Main(string[] args) { //Note that the Main() is also a static method
14 //calling the static method using the class name
15 VendingMachine.PrintManufacturer();
16
17 }
18
19 }

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Static methods cannot access non-static variables directly, i.e., without

creating an instance of a class.

Normally static methods are declared when we don’t need multiple instances of a
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particular feature. For example, there can be only one Main() method in a C#
program because it serves as an entry point to that program. When the compiler
executes a program it looks for a static method named Main() because it knows it
has to run this method directly without the need to create an instance of a class. If
needed, we can actually have multiple Main() methods in a program but then we’ll
have to tell the compiler which Main() method should be used as the entry point.
Non-Static Methods
Non-static methods of a class can only be called with reference to a specific instance
of that class. Since the non-static methods are referenced using a specific object, we
can say that they can be used to perform an object-specific operation. Non-static
methods are also referred to as instance methods.

We have been working with instance methods until now. Let’s take a deeper look
into this with the help of a code.

1 class VendingMachine {
2
3 static string manufacturer = "Vendy Inc.";
4 private int _capacity = 100;
5
6 public void PrintSpecification() { //instance method
7 Console.WriteLine("The {0}'s machine has {1} products capacity", manufacturer, _capa
8 }
9
10 }
11
12 class Demo {
13
14 public static void Main(string[] args) {
15 VendingMachine vendingMachine = new VendingMachine();
16 Got any feedback? Get in touch with us.
//calling the instance method using the class object
17 vendingMachine.PrintSpecification();
18
19 }
20
21 }
 Run Save Reset

The non-static methods can access both static and non-static fields.

In the next lesson, we will learn about the this reference variable.

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Methods The 'this' Reference Variable

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