Readonly

This C# keyword prevents a class field from being changed. Readonly fields are initialized at runtime. Readonly does not affect individual elements in a field like a List.

This C# modifier does not affect performance. It just enforces certain constraints in the compiler. This leads to greater program quality—but types like ImmutableList are still needed.

Example

Here we use the readonly keyword to initialize a DateTime struct. We cannot set a const DateTime—this raises a compilation error.

using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Manager manager = new Manager();
        Console.WriteLine(manager.GetStartup());
    }
}

class Manager
{
    readonly DateTime _startup;

    public Manager()
    {
        // Initialize startup time.
        this._startup = DateTime.Now;
    }

    public DateTime GetStartup()
    {
        // We cannot modify the DateTime here.
        return this._startup;
    }
}
9/26/2024 8:07:44 AM

Inline initialization

It is possible to use an inline initialization for readonly. In IL Disassembler we see the compiler has put it in the constructor itself.

class Manager
{
    readonly DateTime _startup = DateTime.Now;

    public DateTime GetStartup()
    {
        return this._startup;
    }
}

Error

One mistake you might make when using readonly is trying to assign to it in a place that is not a constructor. This will result in the following ugly error when you try to compile.

class Program
{
    static readonly int _code = 100;

    static void Main()
    {
        _code = 200;
    }
}
Error CS0198
A static readonly field cannot be assigned to
(except in a static constructor or a variable initializer)

Public static readonly

Public static readonly fields are recommended. They are used for types that cannot be represented as const values, but are not subject to change during execution.

using System;
using System.Drawing;

static class Points
{
    //
    // Defines four public static readonly fields on a static class.
    //
    public static readonly Point TopLeft = new Point(0, 0);
    public static readonly Point TopRight = new Point(1, 0);
    public static readonly Point BottomRight = new Point(1, 1);
    public static readonly Point BottomLeft = new Point(0, 1);
    // public const Point TopLeft = new Point(0, 0);
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        //
        // Uses the public static readonly fields.
        //
        Console.WriteLine(Points.TopLeft);
        Console.WriteLine(Points.TopRight);
        Console.WriteLine(Points.BottomRight);
        Console.WriteLine(Points.BottomLeft);
        // Points.TopLeft = new System.Drawing.Point();
    }
}
{X=0,Y=0}
{X=1,Y=0}
{X=1,Y=1}
{X=0,Y=1}

Notes, public static readonly

We can get an error from using public static readonly (or const) fields. Here are some errors that can be encountered.

A static readonly field cannot be assigned to
(except in a static constructor or a variable initializer)
The type 'System.Drawing.Point' cannot be declared const

Benchmark, readonly

Consider this simple benchmark of readonly and const ints. We try to determine if there is any performance benefit to using readonly (or avoiding it).

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;

class Test
{
    readonly int _value1;
    int _value2 = 1;
    const int _value3 = 1;

    public Test()
    {
        _value1 = int.Parse("1");
    }

    public int GetValue1()
    {
        return _value1;
    }

    public int GetValue2()
    {
        return _value2;
    }

    public int GetValue3()
    {
        return _value3;
    }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Test test = new Test();
        const int m = 1000000000;
        Stopwatch s1 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        // Version 1: access readonly.
        for (int i = 0; i < m; i++)
        {
            if (test.GetValue1() != 1)
            {
                throw new Exception();
            }
        }
        s1.Stop();
        Stopwatch s2 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        // Version 2: access field.
        for (int i = 0; i < m; i++)
        {
            if (test.GetValue2() != 1)
            {
                throw new Exception();
            }
        }
        s2.Stop();
        Stopwatch s3 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        // Version 3: access const.
        for (int i = 0; i < m; i++)
        {
            if (test.GetValue3() != 1)
            {
                throw new Exception();
            }
        }
        s3.Stop();
        // Results.
        Console.WriteLine(s1.ElapsedMilliseconds);
        Console.WriteLine(s2.ElapsedMilliseconds);
        Console.WriteLine(s3.ElapsedMilliseconds);
    }
}
562 ms    readonly
300 ms    int
555 ms    const

Const

Often it is better to use constants instead. If you have a value that was established outside of your program (such as by science or research) use const.

Summary

We considered a practical usage of the readonly keyword. Further we compared the performance of readonly and const in an object-oriented program.