CS-306 Web Engineering

LECTURE 25 (INTRODUCTION TO C#)

Awais Mehmood
Department of Computer Science
University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila
[email protected]

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, UET TAXILA., PAKISTAN 1

C# - The big ideas!
 The first component-oriented language in the C/C++ family
 Everything really is an object
 Next generation robust and durable software
 Preservation of investment

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A Component Oriented Language
C# is the first “component oriented” language in the C/C++ family
Component concepts are first class:
◦ Properties, methods, events
◦ Design-time and run-time attributes
◦ Integrated documentation using XML
Enables one-stop programming
◦ No header files, IDL, etc.
◦ Can be embedded in web pages

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Everything really is an object
Traditional views
◦ C++, Java: Primitive types are “magic” and do not interoperate with
objects
◦ Smalltalk, Lisp: Primitive types are objects, but at great performance cost
C# unifies with no performance cost
◦ Deep simplicity throughout system
Improved extensibility and reusability
◦ New primitive types: Decimal, SQL…
◦ Collections, etc., work for all types

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Robust and durable software
Garbage collection
◦ No memory leaks and stray pointers
Exceptions
◦ Error handling is not an afterthought
Type-safety
◦ No uninitialized variables, unsafe casts

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Preservation of Investment
C++ heritage
◦ Namespaces, enums, unsigned types, pointers (in unsafe code), etc.
Interoperability
◦ C# implementation talks to XML, SOAP, COM, DLLs, & any .NET language
Millions of lines of C# code in .NET
◦ Short learning curve
◦ Increased productivity

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Writing a Hello World program
using System;

class Hello
{
static void Main() {
Console.WriteLine("Hello world");
}
}

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C# Program Structure
Namespaces
◦ Contain types and other namespaces
Type declarations
◦ Classes, structs, interfaces, enums, and delegates
Members
◦ Constants, fields, methods, properties, indexers, events, operators,
constructors, destructors
Organization
◦ No header files, code written “in-line”

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C# Program Structure
using System;

namespace System.Collections
{
public class Stack
{
Entry top;

public void Push(object data) {

top = new Entry(top, data);
}

public object Pop() {

if (top == null) throw new InvalidOperationException();
object result = top.data;
top = top.next;
return result;
}
}
}

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Type System
Value types
◦ Directly contain data
◦ Cannot be null
Reference types
◦ Contain references to objects
◦ Can be null int i = 123;
string s = "Hello world";

i 123

s "Hello world"

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Type System
Value types
◦ Primitives int i;
◦ Enums enum State { Off, On }
◦ Structs struct Point { int x, y; }
Reference types
◦ Classes class Foo: Bar, IFoo {...}
◦ Interfaces interface IFoo: IBar {...}
◦ Arrays string[] a = new string[10];
◦ Delegates delegate void Empty();

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Predefined Types
C# predefined types
◦ Reference object, string
◦ Signed sbyte, short, int, long
◦ Unsigned byte, ushort, uint, ulong
◦ Character char
◦ Floating-point float, double, decimal
◦ Logical bool
Predefined types are simply aliases for system-provided types
◦ For example, int == System.Int32

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C# Primitive C# Alias Description
Boolean bool Indicates a true or false value. The if, while, and do-while
constructs require expressions of type Boolean.
Byte byte Numeric type indicating an unsigned 8-bit value.
Char char Character type that holds a 16-bit Unicode character.
Decimal decimal High-precession numerical type for financial or scientific
applications.
Double double Double precision floating point numerical value.
Single float Single precision floating point numerical value.
Int32 int Numerical type indicating a 32-bit signed value.
Int64 long Numerical type indicating a 64-bit signed value.
SByte sbyte Numerical type indicating an 8-bit signed value.
Int16 short Numerical type indicating a 16-bit signed value.
UInt32 uint Numerical type indicating a 32-bit unsigned value.
UInt64 ulong Numerical type indicating a 64-bit unsigned value.
UInt16 ushort Numerical type indicating a 16-bit unsigned value.
String string Immutable string of character values
Object object The base type of all type in any managed code.

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Arrays
Array declaration and initialization is similar to other languages
// A one dimensional array of 10 Bytes
Byte[] bytes = new Byte[10];

// A two dimensional array of 4 Int32s

Int32[,] ints = new Int32[5,5];

// A one dimensional array of references to Strings

String[] strings = new String[10];

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Arrays
The array itself is an object
◦ Automatically derived from the Array class in the FCL (Framework
Class Library)
◦ This enables a number of useful methods of Array class to be used
◦ Finding the length of an array
◦ Finding the number of dimensions of an array, etc.
Arrays are reference types although,
◦ Their elements can be value types, or reference types

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Control Flow
Control flow statements in C# are the same as for C++ and Java
◦ if {} else{}
◦ for {}
◦ do{} while()
◦ etc
However, there is one additional new one in C#!
◦ foreach

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Foreach
foreach simplifies the code for iterating through an array

foreach (type identifier in arrayName)

◦ There is no loop counter

◦ If the loop counter variable is required in the loop, then a for
construct must be used
◦ The type must match the type of elements in the array
◦ The array cannot be updated inside the loop

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//Foreach - Example
using System;

public class ForEachTest

{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int[] array ={ 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14};

int total = 0;

foreach (int n in array)

{
total += n;
Console.WriteLine("adding “ +n+ ", Total = " + total);
}
Console.WriteLine("Array total= " + total);
} DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, UET TAXILA
Output

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Expressions and Operators
◦ C# is a strongly typed language
◦ Variables are declared before use
◦ Implicit type conversions that don’t lose precision will be carried out
◦ Unlike C++ (but like Java) C# has a Boolean type
◦ Thus the following code generates a compilation error

Int32 x = 10;
while(x--)
DoSomething();

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Expressions and Operators
C# has the standard set of operators we are familiar with
Also it has operators such as is and typeof for testing variable type
information
C# provides operator overload functions
◦ as does C++ but not Java

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Operator category Operators
Arithmetic + - * / %
Logical (boolean and bitwise) & | ^ ! ~ && || true false
String concatenation +
Increment, decrement ++ --
Shift << >>
Relational == != < > <= >=
Assignment = += -= *= /= %=
&= |= ^= <<= >>=
Member access .
Indexing []
Cast ()
Conditional (Ternary) ?:
Delegate concatenation and removal + -
Object creation New
Type information is sizeof typeof
Overflow exception control checked unchecked
Indirection and Address * -> [] &
Exception Handling
◦This is always done in C# using structured exception handling
◦ Use of the try{} catch{} mechanism as in Java and C++
◦ Functions should throw exceptions
◦ This is done universally by methods in FCL classes

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public static void ExceptionExample()
{
// try-catch
try{
Int32 index = 10;
while(index-- != 0)
Console.WriteLine(100/index);
}
catch(DivideByZeroException) {
Console.WriteLine("A divide by zero exception!");
}
Console.WriteLine("Exception caught; code keeps running");

// try-finally
try{
return;
}
finally {
Console.WriteLine("Code in finally blocks always runs");
}
}
Output

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Classes
Single inheritance
Multiple interface implementation
Class members
◦ Constants, fields, methods, properties, indexers, events, operators,
constructors, destructors
◦ Static and instance members
◦ Nested types (inner classes)
Member access
◦ public, protected, internal, private

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Structs
Like classes, except
◦ Stored in-line, not heap allocated
◦ Assignment copies data, not reference
◦ No inheritance
Ideal for light weight objects
◦ Complex, point, rectangle, color
◦ int, float, double, etc., are all structs
Benefits
◦ No heap allocation, less GC pressure
◦ More efficient use of memory
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Classes and Structs
class CPoint { int x, y; ... }
struct SPoint { int x, y; ... }

CPoint cp = new CPoint(10, 20);

SPoint sp = new SPoint(10, 20);
10
sp
20

cp CPoint
10
20

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Interfaces
Multiple inheritance
Can contain methods, properties, indexers, and events
Private interface implementations
interface IDataBound
{
void Bind(IDataBinder binder);
}

class EditBox: Control, IDataBound

{
void IDataBound.Bind(IDataBinder binder) {...}
}
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Enums
Strongly typed
◦ No implicit conversions to/from int
◦ Operators: +, -, ++, --, &, |, ^, ~
Can specify underlying type enum Color: byte
◦ Byte, short, int, long {
Red = 1,
Green = 2,
Blue = 4,
Black = 0,
White = Red | Green | Blue,
}
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Delegates
Object oriented function pointers
Multiple receivers
◦ Each delegate has an invocation list
Foundation for events

delegate double Func(double x);

Func func = new Func(Math.Sin);

double x = func(1.0);

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using System;
delegate int NumberChanger(int n);
namespace DelegateApp {
class TestDelegate {
static int num = 10;

public static int AddNum(int p) {

num += p;
return num;
}
public static int MultNum(int q) {
num *= q;
return num;
}
public static int getNum() {
return num;
}
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static void Main(string[] args) {
Console.WriteLine("Value of Num before: {0}", getNum());

//create delegate instances

NumberChanger add = new NumberChanger(AddNum);
NumberChanger mult = new NumberChanger(MultNum);

//calling the methods using the delegate objects

add(25);
Console.WriteLine("Value of Num after AddNum: {0}", getNum());
mult(5);
Console.WriteLine("Value of Num after MultNum: {0}", getNum());
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}
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Output

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Unified Type System
Everything is an object
◦ All types ultimately inherit from object
◦ Any piece of data can be stored, transported, and manipulated with no
extra work

object

Stream Hashtable int double

MemoryStream FileStream

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Unified Type System
Boxing (Up-casting)
◦ Allocates box, copies value into it
Unboxing (Down-casting)
◦ Checks type of box, copies value out int i = 123;
object obj = i;
int j = (int)obj;

i 123

o System.Int32
123
j 123

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Component Development
What defines a component?
◦ Properties, methods, events
◦ Integrated help and documentation
◦ Design-time information
Components are easy to build and consume

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public class HealthComponent
{ private int health The Health
healtpublic HealthComponent(int initialHealth)
{
Component
health = initialHealth;
}
public void TakeDamage(int damage)
{
health -= damage;
Console.WriteLine($"Health reduced by {damage}. Current health: {health}“
}
public void Heal(int amount)
{
health += amount;
Console.WriteLine($"Health increased by {amount}. Current health: {health}");
}

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public class Player
{
private HealthComponent healthComponent; The Player Class
public Player()
{
healthComponent = new HealthComponent(100);
}
public void TakeDamage(int damage)
{
healthComponent.TakeDamage(damage);
}
public void Heal(int amount)
{
healthComponent.Heal(amount);
}
}

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 The Main Program
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
Player player = new Player();
player.TakeDamage(20);
player.Heal(10);
}
}
This example demonstrates the component-oriented approach by separating concerns related to health into a dedicated
HealthComponent. This allows for modularity and reusability, as the HealthComponent can be used in other entities or systems
throughout the codebase.

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Properties
Properties are “smart fields”
◦ Natural syntax, accessors, inlining public class Button: Control
{
private string caption;

public string Caption {

get {
return caption;
}
set {
caption = value;
Repaint();
}
} Button b = new Button();
} b.Caption = "OK";
String s = b.Caption;
Events Handling
Define and register event handler
public class MyForm: Form
{
Button okButton;

public MyForm() {
okButton = new Button(...);
okButton.Caption = "OK";
okButton.Click += new EventHandler(OkButtonClick);
}

void OkButtonClick(object sender, EventArgs e) {

ShowMessage("You pressed the OK button");
}
}
CS-306 Web Engineering
LECTURE 26 (WRITING APPLICATIONS C#)
Awais Mehmood
Department of Computer Science
University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila
[email protected]

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, UET TAXILA., PAKISTAN 45

C#
 C# derives it’s power from .NET and the framework class library
 The most similar language to C# is Java
 There are several striking similarities
 BUT there is one fundamental difference
 Java runs on a virtual machine and is interpreted
 C# programs run in native machine code
 This is because of the power of .NET and leads to much more
efficient programs

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Writing applications in C#
An application in C# can be one of three types
◦ Console application (.exe)
◦ Windows application (.exe)
◦ Library of Types (.dll)
The .dll is not executable
These 3 types exclude the more advanced web-based applications

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Writing applications in C#
After we have looked at the more detailed structure and syntax of C#
programs, we will show a simple example of each type
In each case we will use the command line compiler (csc) to create the
binary (assembly)
◦ Later in this lecture we will look at using Visual Studio to create our
applications

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Writing applications in C#
Example 1 – A console application
◦ This example inputs a number from the console and displays the square root
back to the console
◦ Uses a simple iterative algorithm rather than calling a Math library function

How to compile using CSC

c:\windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\bin\csc.exe /t:exe
/out:MyApplication.exe MyApplication.cs

Or
CSC ApplicationName.cs
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using System;
class Square_Root
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
double a,root;
do
{
Console.Write("Enter a number: ");
a=Convert.ToDouble(Console.ReadLine());
if (a<0)
Console.WriteLine(“Enter a positive number!");
} while (a<0);
root=a/2;
double root_old;
do
{
root_old=root;
root=(root_old+a/root_old)/2;
} while (Math.Abs(root_old-root)>1.0E-6);
Console.WriteLine("The square root of " + a + " is " + root);
}
} DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, UET TAXILA
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, UET TAXILA
Writing applications in C#
We can see that everything in a C# application is in a class
In this case the class defines a program entry point Main
◦ This makes the application binary an executable
Note the use of the System namespace
◦ Classes referred to, such as Console and Math, are actually
System.Console and System.Math

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Writing applications in C#
Example 2 – A windows application
◦A simple GUI displaying a menu
◦ This example displays a window with couple of menu buttons
◦ Clicking on a menu button displays a pop-up dialog box

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using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;

class App{
public static void Main(){
Application.Run(new MenuForm());
}
}

class MenuForm:Form{
public MenuForm(){
this.ContextMenu = new ContextMenu(SetupMenu());
this.Menu = new MainMenu(SetupMenu());
}

MenuItem[] SetupMenu(){
MenuItem file = new MenuItem("&File");
file.MenuItems.Add("Exit", new EventHandler(OnExit));
MenuItem messages = new MenuItem("&Message Boxes");
EventHandler handler = new EventHandler(OnMessageBox);
messages.MenuItems.Add("Message Box 1", handler);
messages.MenuItems.Add("Message Box 2", handler);
return new MenuItem[]{file,
DEPARTMENT OFmessages};
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 void OnExit(Object sender, EventArgs args){
this.Close();
}

void OnMessageBox(Object sender, EventArgs args){

MenuItem item = sender as MenuItem;
MessageBox.Show(this, "You selected menu item -
"+item.Text);
}
}

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DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, UET TAXILA
Writing applications in C#

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using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class MyForm : Form

{
private Button myButton;
public MyForm()
{
// Create a button
myButton = new Button();
myButton.Text = "Click Me!";
myButton.Click += MyButton_Click;

// Set the form properties

Text = "My Windows Application";
Controls.Add(myButton);
}
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 private void MyButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show("Button clicked!");
}
}

public class Program

{
public static void Main()
{
// Create and run the form
Application.Run(new MyForm());
}
}

To run code: csc /taget:winexe myButtonApp.cs

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 Writing applications in C#

This program is considerably more complex than the previous example

It uses the System.Drawing and System.Windows.Forms namespaces
◦ The (System.Windows.Forms).Form class is a standard outer graphics
container for most windows/GUI applications
It also uses event handling to respond to user interaction
◦ (menu button clicks)

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Writing applications in C#
Example 3 – A library
◦ We can take some of the code from example 1 for computing the square root
and make it a library
◦ It will not have a Main method
◦ We indicate that we are compiling to a .dll using the /Target:library option

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using System;

public class Square_Root_Class

{
public static double calcRoot(double number)
{
double root;
root=number/2;
double root_old;
do
{
root_old=root;
root=(root_old+number/root_old)/2;
} while (Math.Abs(root_old-root)>1.0E-6);

return root;
}
} DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, UET TAXILA
Writing applications in C#

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Writing applications in C#
We can now write a simple program containing a Main method
which uses this library class
◦ The only thing we need to do is to reference the library .dll using the /r switch
when we compile the application

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using System;

class Square_Root
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
double a,root;
do
{
Console.Write("Enter a number: ");
a=Convert.ToDouble(Console.ReadLine());
if (a<0)
Console.WriteLine("Please enter a positive number!");
} while (a<0);

root=Square_Root_Class.calcRoot(a);

Console.WriteLine("The square root of " + a + " is " + root);

}
}

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Writing applications in C#

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Visual Studio .NET
VS.NET is an Integrated Development Environment or IDE
◦ It includes a source code editor
◦ usually pretty fancy ones containing language help features
◦ Software project management tools
◦ Online-help and
◦ Debugging
◦ GUI design tools
◦ And lots more......

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Visual Studio .NET (Creating a new Project)
Creating a new project gives the user the option of the language and
project type
◦ Visual Basic, C++, C#, J#
◦ Console, Windows, Class Library, Active Web Page or Web Service

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Visual Studio .NET

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Visual Studio .NET (Solutions)
We can group our projects under a common solution
◦ Each application has just one solution but may comprise many
projects
◦ A single solution can comprise projects written in different languages
Each project contains a number of files including
◦ source files, executables and xml files containing information about the
project and resources

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Visual Studio .NET (Solutions)
We can add each of our previous 3 example applications (projects) to
a single solution Learning C Sharp
◦ Its a simple matter to flip between them and view the code from each project
by selecting the appropriate tab
◦ Each project must be built (compiled) before executing and any of the projects
in a solution can be selected to be executed

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DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, UET TAXILA
Visual Studio .NET (Adding references)
It is a simple matter to reference a .dll from a project
We can check all the references that a project makes by expanding
the References menu item in the solution explorer
◦ Notice for the windows project, lots of FCL classes are referenced

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DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, UET TAXILA
Visual Studio .NET (Visual Programming)
An important feature of VS is its ability to enable visual programming
◦ We can create sophisticated GUI’s without writing a line of code
◦ We simply add GUI components to an outer window (a Form) and
set up the properties of the components to get the required look
and feel
◦ VS allows us to easily switch between code and design views
◦ We will look more into visual programming in a future lecture

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References
http://msdn.microsoft.com/net
◦ Download .NET SDK and documentation
http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/pdc
◦ Slides and info from .NET PDC
news://msnews.microsoft.com
◦ microsoft.public.dotnet.csharp.general

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Thank you!
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