Methods in C#

C# Methods Explained

A method is a code block that perform a given task. Every C# program has at least one class with a method named Main.

In object-oriented programming, a method is a subroutine (or procedure or function) associated with a class. 

A program causes the statements to be executed by calling the method and specifying any required method arguments.

To use method, we have to do these;
 1. Define the method
 2. call the method

Defining a Method in C#

When we define a method, we just declare the elements of its structure. The syntax for defining a method in C# is given below

Method Syntax
<Access Specifier><Return Type> <Method Name>(Parameter List)
{
   Method Body
}

Following are the various elements of a method −

• Access Specifier − This determines the visibility of a variable or a method from another class.
• Return type − A method may return a value. The return type is the data type of the value the method returns. If the method is not returning any values, then the return type is void.
• Method name − Method name is a unique identifier and it is case sensitive. It cannot be same as any other identifier declared in the class.
• Parameter list − Enclosed between parentheses, the parameters are used to pass and receive data from a method. The parameter list refers to the type, order, and number of the parameters of a method. Parameters are optional; that is, a method may contain no parameters.
• Method body − This contains the set of instructions needed to complete the required activity.

Example of Declaring and Calling a method

Method that returns first character of a given word

namespace CsharpnaijaMethod

{

    // Declaring Method

    public  static string GetFirstLetter(string word)

   {

        return word.SubString(0,1);

   } 

   class Program{

     static void Main( string[] args)

     {

         // Calling the method

          var name=Console.ReadLine();

          Console.WriteLine(GetFirstLetter(name));

      }

   }

}

Static methods in C#

In c#, if we create a methods with static, then we can directly invoke those methods from class level without creating an object.

If you observe above example Main method is static and we are invoking GetFirstLetter method by creating an instance of Program class. Instead, if we create a method with static, then we can directly access those methods in Main() method without creating an instance of object.

C# Methods with No Return Type and Parameters

If we are creating a methods in c# applications that does not return value, we use void as return type for the method.

Example of method with no return type

namespace CsharpnaijaMethods
{
   class Program
  {
     public static void Main(string[] args) 
     {
         
     }
     public static void VoidMethod()
     {
          // statements here
     }
  }

}