.NET 8 Features and Enhancements in C#:

NET 8 introduces new features and enhancements for C#. we will see those members and features in this article.

1. Required Members:

• required : This keyword makes sure that some properties have to be set when creating an object or using a constructor.

public class Person
{
    public required string FirstName { get; init; }
    public required string LastName { get; init; }
}

2. Primary Constructors:

 This feature makes it easier to declare a class by including the constructor right in the class definition.

public class Point(int x, int y)
{
    public int X { get; } = x;
    public int Y { get; } = y;
}

3. Default Interface Methods:

Allows default implementations of methods in interfaces.

public interface ILogger
{
    void Log(string message) => Console.WriteLine(message);
}

4. File-scoped Types:

Enables types to be declared in a file without a namespace.

file class Helper { }

5. Raw String Literals:

Introduces raw string literals for easier multi-line strings and avoiding escape sequences.

string rawString = """
                   This is a "raw" string literal
                   that spans multiple lines.
                   """;

6. Static Abstract Members in Interfaces:

Allows interfaces to declare static abstract members.

public interface IFactory<T>
{
    static abstract T Create();
}

7. List Patterns:

Adds support for matching elements in lists using patterns.

if (numbers is [1, 2, 3])
{
    // Handle case where numbers are exactly [1, 2, 3]
}

8. UTF-8 String Literals:

Introduces a way to define UTF-8 string literals for efficient string processing.

ReadOnlySpan<byte> utf8String = "Hello, world!"u8;

9. Enhanced using Directives:

Simplifies the use of using directives with global and file-scoped options

global using System;
file using static System.Console;

10. Collection Literals:

Provides a shorter method to initialize collections.

var list = [1, 2, 3];
var dict = ["key1" : "value1", "key2" : "value2"];

11. Interpolation Improvements:

Enhances string interpolation with better performance and more features.

string name = "world";
string greeting = $"Hello, {name}!";