In what situations are 'out' parameters useful (where 'ref' couldn't be used instead)?

Question

As far as I can tell, the only use for out parameters is that a caller can obtain multiple return values from a single method invocation. But we can also obtain multiple result values using ref parameters instead!

So are there other situations where out parameters could prove useful and where we couldn't use ref parameters instead?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Yes - the difference between ref and out is in terms of definite assignment:

• An out parameter doesn't have to be definitely assigned by the caller before the method call. It does have to be definitely assigned in the method before it returns normally (i.e. without an exception). The variable is then definitely assigned in the caller after the call.

• A ref parameter does have to be definitely assigned by the caller before the method call. It doesn't have to be assigned a different value in the method.

So suppose we wanted to change int.TryParse(string, out int) to use ref instead. Usually the calling code looks like this:

int value;
if (int.TryParse(text, out value))
{
    // Use value
}
else
{
    // Do something else
}

Now if we used ref, we'd have to give value a value before the call, e.g.:

int value = 0;
if (int.TryParse(text, ref value))
{
    // Use value
}
else
{
    // Do something else
}

Obviously it's not a huge difference - but it gives the wrong impression. We're assigning a value that we have no intention of ever using, and that's not a good thing for readability. An out parameter indicates that a value will come out of the method (assuming there's no exception) and that you don't need to have a value to start with.

Once of the suggestions I've made for C# 5 (I've no idea if it'll be taken up or not) is that a method with an out parameter should be able to regarded as a method returning a tuple of values. Combined with better support for tuples, that would mean we could do something like this:

var (ok, value) = int.TryParse(text);

In this case ok and value would be implicitly typed to bool and int respectively. That way it's clear what's going into the method (text) and what's coming out (two pieces of information: ok and value).

That would simply not be available if int.TryParse used a ref parameter instead - as the compiler can't know whether it's going to actually care about the initial value of the ref parameter.

Answer 2

One important difference is this:

A variable passed as an out argument need not be initialized. However, the out parameter must be assigned a value before the method returns.

(A ref parameter does not require this)

Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/t3c3bfhx(VS.71).aspx

Answer 3

An out parameter is useful when you want multiple result values from a method. Technically, you could use a ref parameter to achieve the same goal but an out parameter does a significantly better job at conveying intent. When you use ref, It is not clear why you are doing so instead of using out or instead of using the function result. Presumably, you intend on changing the value passed, but why you are changing it isn't clear simply from the function signature.

Answer 4

You can look at parameters in this way:

• normal parameters are in parameters:
  A value can go into the function through such a parameter; therefore it must be initialized.

• ref parameters are in-out parameters:
  A value can go into and out of a function through such a parameter. Because of the former, it must also be initialized.

• out parameters are out parameters:
  A value is only supposed to come back from a function through such a parameter; therefore, it doesn't need to be initialized.

I came up with this way of looking at ref/out parameters by studying Microsoft's COM technology. IDL (interface description language) is used to describe COM component interfaces, and with IDL, parameters are augmented with in, out, and inout declarators. I suspect .NET and C# have partly inherited these declarators from COM, albeit with slightly different names (ref instead of inout).

With COM, out parameters are frequently used to retrieve an interface method's actual return value, since the "real" return value is often already used for returning a HRESULT success/error code.

With .NET, I think out parameters have far less importance, even in cases where you want to return several values from a method (you could return complex objects or Tuples in these situations).

Answer 5

I think a fine example is int.TryParse()

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f02979c7.aspx

The primary reason that out is better than ref is that you don't need to assign a dummy value to the return var before calling (even implicitly).

So out tells you, and the compiler: "This var will be assigned within the method. And the var's initial value, if any, will not even be looked at."

Answer 6

Major difference between the two is that if we are using ref then we have to initialize this before call and it is optional that we assign a value to our ref variable in our method.

However for out methods we do not have to explicitly initialize them but in our method we have to assign some value to it, otherwise they will generate compile time error.