As I pointed out earlier, value types cannot be assigned null because, by definition, they can't contain references, including references to nothing. However, this presents a problem in the real world, where values are missing. When specifying a count, for example, what do you enter if the count is unknown? One possible solution is to designate a "magic" value, such as 0 or int.Max, but these are valid integers. Rather, it is desirable to assign null to the value type because this is not a valid integer. To declare variables that can store null you use the nullable modifier, ?. This C# 2.0 feature appears in Listing 2.17. Listing 2.17. Using the Nullable Modifier
Assigning null to value types is especially attractive in database programming. Frequently value type columns in database tables allow nulls. Retrieving such columns and assigning them to corresponding fields within C# code is problematic, unless the fields can contain null as well. Fortunately, the nullable modifier is designed to handle such a scenario specifically. |