Everything You Want to Know About the Record Type in .NET… But Were Afraid to Ask

The article presents record types in .NET 5 as a fit for model types such as DTOs and POCOs, with less boilerplate and built-in support for immutability. It also notes that records generate equality members, GetHashCode(), and a useful ToString(), while mentioning a custom PropertiesToString() for collection properties.

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• Record types were introduced in .NET 5 to reduce boilerplate code.
• The author uses record types mainly for model types such as DTOs and POCOs.
• Record declarations use the record keyword instead of class.
• Init accessors replace set for values that should be set in constructors or object initialization.
• After object creation, record data cannot be modified, which preserves immutability.
• The with keyword creates a new object when a record needs updated values.
• Record types automatically generate equality operators and related comparison members.
• Record types also generate GetHashCode(), reducing maintenance work.
• Record types generate a ToString() result that is more meaningful than the default type name.
• The author created PropertiesToString() in IDataRecord to serialize collection properties more accurately.
• Benchmarking in the article compares records with value types and reference types.
• The article says cloning a record is faster than cloning value types and reference types.
• The article says hashing reference types is slightly faster than hashing value types and record types.
• JSON serialization and deserialization are shown as common operations for these types.
• Iterating over records is described as slower than reference types but faster than value types.
• Sorting records is described as slightly faster than reference types and faster than value types.
• The article concludes that records can reduce coding effort and maintenance costs, especially for DTOs.
• The author lists immutability, inheritance support, generated equality and hash members, and performance as reasons to adopt record types.