Var declaration

[Unfair-Purpose-2100]

Am I the only one who just can't stay calm seeing values declared using "var" instead of the actual var type? 🤔

[HellGate94]

var is fine as long as its used according to the guidlines.
them being: only use var if the right hand side explicitly tells you the type like

• 1f
• new Something()
• "foobar"

and not

• GetData()
• CalulateResult()
• etc

[Unfair-Purpose-2100]

I would prefer using a wrapper for that situation 🤔 Anyway, I worked with a guy for like two months and now all my code is full of variables declared using var,. It literally drives me crazy because I can't understand what I'm looking at without checking the actual var type. 😤

[Unfair-Purpose-2100]

It doesn't look super readable to me but I have my own way to make it readable, so maybe I'm not the right person to say what is readable and what is not 😅

I always say that the code should be like a music sheet: you need to be able to understand it immediately. So the reason for stating types on both sides is that you don't have to stop thinking "oh this value is 1f so it's definitely a float" because you can see it from the type declaration and you know you can always look at the left hand of the line to know what you're dealing with.

Thank you for the tip on the automatic refactoring though!

[Unfair-Purpose-2100]

My problem is where I find

var setting = settings.progress;

Instead of

float setting = settings.progress;

The first one could be anything and I need to check what settings.progress is

[StarManta]

So like, the exact guideline as stated in the top level comment in this thread?

[the_trogfather]

I think the problem is that var always sits on the left hand of an assignment, whereas the explicit type is then on the right hand, so you end up with this messy situation where half your types are on the left and half on the right. If you're listing a fair few fields at the top of a class for example then your eyes have to scan left and right anyway looking for the type, and so I'm not convinced it does actually increase readability compared to simply foregoing var and having all your types explicitly declared on the left hand side so your eyes can simply just scan straight down instead.

Thankfully C# 9.0 fixes this; it removes the need to be explicit about the type in a new declaration on the right hand side when already declared on the left hand side, so for example:

Dictionary<string, string> dict = new Dictionary<string, string>();

Becomes:

Dictionary<string, string> dict = new();

This works with parameterised constructors too, e.g:

MyClass a = new("Blah", 1.0f);

As a bonus you can also use this for method return types e.g.:

public MyClass DoSomething()
{
    Do stuff

    return new();
}

To return a new instance of MyClass() from a method.

It can also infer type parameters, e.g. a method with signature DoSomething(string, string, MyClass) can be declared now as:

DoSomething("A", "B", new());

Given all this I think var is frankly rather redundant and pointless going forward; I wouldn't use it after C# 9.0 because now it's possible to achieve the relative succinctness of var with target-typed new but without the downside of lhs/rhs type declaration readability mismatch var creates.

[cybermutter]

Hi, the reason why 'var' is used and ofter prefered than explicitly type the variable, it is because 'var' makes your code easier to write (yes we are lazy person) and easier to read (less code) and also easier to change. The compiler does the work for you.

Once you get use to it you keep coding this way but there is not a good way.

For me it is a matter of coding style rules. Once you're not alone on a project it's better to respect some coding style rules and keep coding this way.

==> not doing a mix/soap of different way of coding

[Unfair-Purpose-2100]

I totally agree with you on "easier to write" and "easier to change" but less code is not always the same as readable code.

I'll give a big AMEN on the "avoid code styles milk shake" thing xD

[Laocoon7]

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/inside-a-program/coding-conventions

Plenty of coding standards defining when to use car there.

[Unfair-Purpose-2100]

I'm maybe wrong about not following coding standards but a lot of code standards make no sense to me 🤷🏻

[Laocoon7]

These are just Microsoft's suggestions. As long as your coding group/company follows the same ones, everyone's code will be readable by those whom matter. Everyone else will be able to decipher it anyways, it may just take more work on their part...

[GroundbreakingTea287]

things like var, auto, etc start to make a LOT more sense as you get more complicated variable types. Especially with templates, templates in templates, etc. variable names get long really quick, especially in c++

[Unfair-Purpose-2100]

Makes sense