C# Language Specification

Value types

A value type is either a struct type or an enumeration type. C# provides a set of predefined struct types called the simple types. The simple types are identified through reserved words.

value-type:
struct-type
enum-type

struct-type:
type-name
simple-type
nullable-type

simple-type:
numeric-type
bool

numeric-type:
integral-type
floating-point-type
decimal

integral-type:
sbyte
byte
short
ushort
int
uint
long
ulong
char

floating-point-type:
float
double

nullable-type:
non-nullable-value-type ?

non-nullable-value-type:
type

enum-type:
type-name

Unlike a variable of a reference type, a variable of a value type can contain the value null only if the value type is a nullable type. For every non-nullable value type there is a corresponding nullable value type denoting the same set of values plus the value null.

Assignment to a variable of a value type creates a copy of the value being assigned. This differs from assignment to a variable of a reference type, which copies the reference but not the object identified by the reference.

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