C# What is difference between class & Record type

Question

We know that Record types which have been introduced in C# 9.0. see the code and tell me what is difference between these two set of code ?

i found one article said about Record as follow

1) Immutable means it cannot change. By default, Record types are immutable.
2) Record Type - it is a compact and easy way to write reference types (immutable) that automatically behave like value type

why people saying record behave like value type....what does it mean?

public class Member  
{  
    public int ID { get; init; }  
    public string FirstName { get; init; }  
    public string LastName { get; init; }  
    public string Address { get; init; }  
}

and

public record Member  
{  
    public int ID { get; init; }  
    public string FirstName { get; init; }  
    public string LastName { get; init; }  
    public string Address { get; init; }  
}

the only difference is Record keyword used in 2nd code. other than this what is difference ?

**1) please discuss with some sample code which i can run and understand the difference & usage.

2) when to use record type....please discuss a scenario.**

thanks

Answer 1

You need to read the docs

Immutable means it cannot change. By default, Record types are immutable.

Yes this is true and that you can create immutable instances of a List and other collections, see the following blog entry. In this case a class would have a public getter and private setter.

For sample usage of records see the following.

Records: The goal is that you can more easily create immutable records while with classes more work is required.