# Var usage in C#

The following code snippets illustrate how the usage of the var keyword can shorten the feedback loop and prevent errors.

Simple class hierarchy

class Animal {}
class Dog : Animal {}
class Cat : Animal {}

Code without using var

Animal[] arr = new Dog[3];
arr[0] = new Cat();

The code will compile successfully. However, at runtime it will blow up pretty bad. There is no way to fit a Cat into a Dog.

Code using var

var arr = new Dog[3];
arr[0] = new Cat();

The code will not even compile. The compiler infers arr to be an array of Dogs. It prevents Cats from being inserted into the array.

Summary

In both cases the code fails. However, the usage of var allows some errors to be catched during compilation. Errors are preferably catched as early as possible.

The code from the first snippet could have easily made it into production impacting the application users. Whereas the code from the second snippet was catched by the developer who wrote it. ¹