ECMA-334 C# Language Specification

11.1: Value types

A value type is either a struct type or an enumeration type. C# provides a set of predefined struct types called the simple types. The simple types are identified through reserved words.

value-type
struct-type
enum-type
struct-type
type-name
simple-type
simple-type
numeric-type
bool
numeric-type
integral-type
floating-point-type
decimal
integral-type
sbyte
byte
short
ushort
int
uint
long
ulong
char
floating-point-type
float
double
enum-type
type-name

All value types implicitly inherit from class object. It is not possible for any type to derive from a value type, and value types are thus implicitly sealed (17.1.1.2).

A variable of a value type always contains a value of that type. Unlike reference types, it is not possible for a value of a value type to be null, or to reference an object of a more derived type.

Assignment to a variable of a value type creates a copy of the value being assigned. This differs from assignment to a variable of a reference type, which copies the reference but not the object identified by the reference.

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