[Solved] C# Methods in console Based [closed]

Question

As several people have indicated in the comments, the indiscriminate use of out and ref is a bad practice.

With that said, your first major problem is that the code as written doesn’t compile because you’re passing parameters in in the wrong order. For example:

CalculateCostMeth(ref numberOfDrawers, ref cost, ref deskWoodType);

should actually be

CalculateCostMeth(ref deskWoodType, ref numberOfDrawers, ref cost);

Even then it won’t compile because “cost” is a) the wrong type and b) should be passed with “out” instead of “ref.”

Same thing for OutPutCostMeth – the order’s completely scrambled.

OutPutCostMeth(ref deskWoodType, cost, numberOfDrawers);

It should actually be

OutPutCostMeth(numberOfDrawers, ref deskWoodType, cost);

Also, “deskWoodType” shouldn’t include the “ref” keyword.

Also, “cost” is a double in the main method and an int in the “OutPutCostMeth” – you can’t implicitly convert a double to an int because that may entail data loss. Here are the correct signatures:

// New signature - change int cost to double cost and change the return type
private static double CalculateCostMeth(ref string deskWoodType, ref int numberOfDrawers, out double cost)

// Change cost to a double
private static void OutPutCostMeth(int numberOfDrawers, string deskWoodType, double cost)

Here are the correct calls:

CalculateCostMeth(ref deskWoodType, ref numberOfDrawers, out cost);
OutPutCostMeth(numberOfDrawers, deskWoodType, cost);

One final point: make sure you validate user input. Right now entering some random string will make the program crash. I also claimed that I wanted -20 drawers and the program informed me that the store owes me $500. I’d strongly suggest making sure you handle obviously invalid input like that gracefully.

Accepted Answer