What is '=>'? (C# Grammar Question)

Question

I was watching a Silverlight tutorial video, and I came across an unfamiliar expression in the example code.

what is => ? what is its name? could you please provide me a link? I couldn't search for it because they are special characters.

code:

        var ctx = new EventManagerDomainContext();
        ctx.Events.Add(newEvent);
        ctx.SubmitChanges((op) =>
        {
            if (!op.HasError)
            {
                NavigateToEditEvent(newEvent.EventID);
            }
        }, null);

Answer 1

Lambda operator. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb397687.aspx

Huzzah!

Answer 2

It's a lambda expression.

If you're familiar with anonymous methods from C# 2, lambda expressions are mostly similar but more concise. So the code you've got could be written like this with an anonymous method:

var ctx = new EventManagerDomainContext();
ctx.Events.Add(newEvent);
ctx.SubmitChanges(delegate(Operation op)
{
    if (!op.HasError)
    {
        NavigateToEditEvent(newEvent.EventID);
    }
}, null);

Aspects of anonymous methods such as the behaviour of captured variables work the same way for lambda expressions. Lambda expressions and anonymous methods are collectively called anonymous functions.

There are a few differences, however:

• Lambda expressions can be converted into expression trees as well as delegates.

• Lambda expressions have a number of shortcuts to make them more concise:

  • If the compiler can infer the parameter types, you don't need to specify them
  • If the body is a single statement, you don't need to put it in braces and you can omit the "return" part of a return statement
  • If you have a single parameter with an inferred type, you can miss out the brackets

  Putting these together, you get things like:

  IEnumerable<string> names = people.Select(person => person.Name);
  

• Lambda expressions don't support the "I don't care how many parameters there are" form of anonymous methods, e.g.

  EventHandler x = delegate { Console.WriteLine("I was called"); };
  

Answer 3

It's a C# lambda expression. You can read all about them here.

Answer 4

I couldn't search for it because they are special characters.

Sometimes the old-fashioned ways are the best. This worked for me:

• Start Visual Studio 2008 or later
• Hit F1
• Once the Help Document Explorer has come up, ensure the Index tab is selected in the left hand pane
• Enter => in the Look for field
• The first item in the list is now the help article you need.