C# 0 The Complete Reference

count

 is called in 

Main( )

.

Although captured variables can result in rather counterintuitive situations, such as the 

one just shown, it makes sense if you think about it a bit. The key point is that when an 

anonymous method captures a variable, that variable cannot go out of existence until the 

delegate that captures it is no longer being used. If this were not the case, then the captured 

variable could be undefined when it is needed by the delegate.

Lambda Expressions

Although anonymous methods are a valuable feature, they have been largely superceded 

by a better approach: the 

lambda expression.

 It is not an overstatement to say that the lambda 

expression is one of the two most important features added by C# 3.0 (the other being LINQ). 

Based on an entirely new syntactic element, the lambda expression provides a powerful 

alternative to the anonymous method. Although a principal use of lambda expressions is 

found when working with LINQ (see Chapter 19), they are also applicable to (and commonly 

used with) delegates and events. This use of lambda expressions is described here.

A lambda expression is the second way that an anonymous function can be created. 

(The other type of anonymous function is the anonymous method, described in the 

preceding section.) Thus, a lambda expression can be assigned to a delegate. Because a 

lambda expression is more streamlined than the equivalent anonymous method, lambda 

expressions are now the recommended approach in almost all cases.