7.3. Strings as Objects

Beyond bracket notation, there are many other tools we can use to work with strings. Talking about these tools requires some new terminology.

7.3.1. Object Terminology

In C#, strings are objects, so to understand how we can use them in our programs, we must first understand some basics about objects.

An object is a collection of related data and operations. An operation that can be carried out on an object is known as a method. A piece of data associated with an object is known as a property.

Example

Suppose we created a Square object in C# to help calculate various properties of a square.

Since a square has four sides of the same length, it should have a property to represent this length. This property could be called Length. For a given square, it will have a specific value, such as 4.

Since a square has an area, it should have a method to calculate the area. This method could be called Area, and it should calculate the area of a square using its Length property.

7.3.1.1. Dot Notation

You can think of methods and properties as functions and variables, respectively, that “belong to” an object. Properties and methods are accessed using dot notation, which dictates that we use the object name, followed by a ., followed by the property or method name. When using a method, we must also use parentheses as we do when calling regular functions. Notice we reference objects and methods with capital letters.

Example

Returning to the Square example, we can access its length by typing Square.Length.

We can calculate the area by calling Square.Area().

Referencing Length or Area by itself in code does not give you the value of Square.Length or carry out the calculation in Square.Area(). It does not make sense to refer to a property or method without also referring to the associated object. Typing simply Length or Area() is ambiguous. There might be multiple squares, and it would be unclear which one you were asking about.

We will learn quite a bit more about objects in this course, including how to use objects to create your own custom data types. This powerful C# feature allows us to bundle up data and functionality in useful, modular ways.

7.3.2. Strings Are Objects

The fact that strings are objects means that they have associated data and operations, or properties and methods as we will call them from now on.

Every string that we work with will have the same properties and methods. The most useful string property is named Length, and it tells us how many characters are in a string.

Example

string firstName = "Grace";
string lastName = "Hopper";

Console.WriteLine(firstName + " has " + firstName.Length + " characters");
Console.WriteLine(lastName + " has " + lastName.Length + " characters");

Console Output

Grace has 5 characters
Hopper has 6 characters

Every string has a Length property, which is an integer.

The Length property is the only string property that we will use, but there are many useful string methods. We will explore these in depth in the section String Methods, but let’s look at one now to give you an idea of what’s ahead.

The ToLower() string method returns the value of its string in all lowercase letters. Since it is a method, we must precede it with a specific string in order to use it.

Example

string nonprofit = "LaunchCode";

Console.WriteLine(nonprofit.ToLower());
Console.WriteLine(nonprofit);

Console Output

launchcode
LaunchCode

Notice that ToLower() does not alter the string itself, but instead returns the result of converting the string to all lowercase characters. In fact, it is not possible to alter the characters within a string, as we will now see.

7.3.3. Check Your Understanding

Question

Given string word = 'Rutabaga', why does word.Length return the integer 8, but word[8] throws an exception?