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Reflection C

Reflection in C# allows programs to inspect and manipulate metadata, types, and assemblies at runtime, enabling dynamic behavior such as type discovery, method invocation, and object instantiation. It is commonly used in scenarios like plugin architectures and serialization frameworks but can impact performance if overused. Developers can also define custom attributes for additional metadata, which can be retrieved at runtime, though caution is advised due to potential performance overhead and security implications.

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16 views1 page

Reflection C

Reflection in C# allows programs to inspect and manipulate metadata, types, and assemblies at runtime, enabling dynamic behavior such as type discovery, method invocation, and object instantiation. It is commonly used in scenarios like plugin architectures and serialization frameworks but can impact performance if overused. Developers can also define custom attributes for additional metadata, which can be retrieved at runtime, though caution is advised due to potential performance overhead and security implications.

Uploaded by

kfnjufaodsxjptfkhk
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Reflection in C#

Reflection in C# is a powerful feature that allows programs to inspect and manipulate metadata, types,
and assemblies at runtime. It is part of the System.Reflection namespace and provides the ability
to dynamically create instances, invoke methods, and access fields and properties without knowing
them at compile time. Reflection is commonly used in scenarios such as plugin-based architectures,
serialization frameworks, and object mapping tools, where dynamic behavior is required. However,
excessive use of reflection can impact performance, as it bypasses compile-time optimizations.
One of the primary use cases of reflection is type discovery. Using the Type class, developers can
obtain metadata about a class, including its methods, properties, fields, and constructors. For example,
typeof(MyClass).GetMethods() returns an array of MethodInfo objects representing all
public methods of MyClass. Similarly, Assembly.GetTypes() can be used to retrieve all types
within an assembly. This capability is especially useful for dynamically loading and inspecting third-
party libraries or unknown types at runtime.
Reflection also enables dynamic method invocation. The MethodInfo.Invoke() method allows
calling a method on an object instance, even if the method name is unknown at compile time. This is
useful in scenarios like executing commands based on user input, implementing scripting engines, or
dynamically invoking API methods. Additionally, the Activator.CreateInstance() method
allows instantiating objects dynamically, which is often used in dependency injection frameworks and
factory patterns to create objects without hardcoding class names.
Attributes and custom metadata are another important aspect of reflection. C# allows developers to
define custom attributes using classes derived from System.Attribute, which can be applied to
classes, methods, or properties to store additional metadata. Reflection can then be used to retrieve
these attributes at runtime using methods like GetCustomAttributes(). This feature is widely
used in serialization libraries, validation frameworks, and ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) tools like
Entity Framework to configure behavior dynamically based on attribute annotations.
Despite its flexibility, reflection should be used with caution due to its performance overhead and
security implications. Since reflection operates at runtime, it bypasses type safety and may introduce
runtime errors that would otherwise be caught at compile time. Additionally, excessive use of reflection
can slow down execution, as method invocations and type lookups are not optimized by the JIT
compiler. To mitigate performance concerns, caching reflection results and using Expression
Trees or IL Emit for high-performance dynamic code generation are recommended strategies.
When used appropriately, reflection provides a powerful mechanism for building flexible and
extensible C# applications.

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