Comments on: Sealed classes in .NET … but why? http://www.chrishowie.com/2006/07/04/sealed-classes-in-net-but-why/ Trading social skills for technical prowess since 1994 Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:55:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Chris http://www.chrishowie.com/2006/07/04/sealed-classes-in-net-but-why/comment-page-1/#comment-7958 Chris Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:05:02 +0000 http://www.chrishowie.com/2006/07/04/sealed-classes-in-net-but-why/#comment-7958 @Jeevan: If the CLR does in fact optimize the layout of the fields across an entire hierarchy, it could certainly ensure that the position of the string fields remains the same. @Jeevan:

If the CLR does in fact optimize the layout of the fields across an entire hierarchy, it could certainly ensure that the position of the string fields remains the same.

]]> By: Jeevan http://www.chrishowie.com/2006/07/04/sealed-classes-in-net-but-why/comment-page-1/#comment-7957 Jeevan Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:02:31 +0000 http://www.chrishowie.com/2006/07/04/sealed-classes-in-net-but-why/#comment-7957 I am not sure if this is the correct answer, but I think this is not just because of the immutability that the System.String class is sealed. To improve performance, it is required that the CLR should know the exact layout of the fields defined within the String class (CLR accesses them directly, unlike other classes). Now, if someone derives a class from String and defines his/her own fields, it would be impossible for the CLR to make any assumptions about the internal layout of the class. Hope this helps. And if anyone thinks this is not the fact, I would be very happy to know the actual reason. I am not sure if this is the correct answer, but I think this is not just because of the immutability that the System.String class is sealed. To improve performance, it is required that the CLR should know the exact layout of the fields defined within the String class (CLR accesses them directly, unlike other classes). Now, if someone derives a class from String and defines his/her own fields, it would be impossible for the CLR to make any assumptions about the internal layout of the class.

Hope this helps. And if anyone thinks this is not the fact, I would be very happy to know the actual reason.

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