C# 0 The Complete Reference

MyMethod( )

 is sealed by 

D

, it can’t be overridden by 

X

.

The object Class

C# defines one special class called 

object

 that is an implicit base class of all other classes and 

for all other types (including the value types). In other words, all other types are derived 

from 

object

. This means that a reference variable of type 

object

 can refer to an object of any 

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other type. Also, since arrays are implemented as objects, a variable of type 

object

 can also 

refer to any array. Technically, the C# name 

object

 is just another name for 

System.Object

,

which is part of the .NET Framework class library.

The

object

 class defines the methods shown in Table 11-1, which means that they are 

available in every object.

A few of these methods warrant some additional explanation. By default, the 

Equals(object)

method determines if the invoking object refers to the same object as the one referred to by 

the argument. (That is, it determines if the two references are the same.) It returns 

true

 if the 

objects are the same, and 

false

 otherwise. You can override this method in classes that you 

create. Doing so allows you to define what equality means relative to a class. For example, 

you could define 

Equals(object)

 so that it compares the contents of two objects for equality. 

The