CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#c#-3.0
Embedd_0913
Embedd_0913

Reputation: 16565

How CLR handles extern method calls in C#

I want to ask why all extern method calls are static? How the CLR handles these calls?

Upvotes: 5

Views: 513

Answers (2)

Ðаn
Ðаn

Reputation: 10875

extern calls also must generally conform to a "C-style" API, and C doesn't know anything about objects, thus the calls are static.

My statement isn't 100% true as there is a ThisCall calling convention which can be used with [DllImport] as an aid in calling C++ methods.

Upvotes: 2

Marc Gravell
Marc Gravell

Reputation: 1064114

Extern method calls are to unmanaged code. As such, it doesn't make sense to be called on a (managed) object instance - the first (hidden) argument in an instance method is the instance reference, aka this. Typically, extern methods just involve simple types (primitives, string, etc) - not objects (except perhaps arrays - and even they are often resolved to IntPtr first).

Upvotes: 4

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