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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -33,48 +33,51 @@ Used to test for null before performing a member access (`?.`) or index (`?[`) o
int? length = customers?.Length; // null if customers is null
Customer first = customers?[0]; // null if customers is null
int? count = customers?[0]?.Orders?.Count(); // null if customers, the first customer, or Orders is null

```

```vb
Dim length = customers?.Length ‘’ null if customers is null
Dim first as Customer = customers?(0); ‘’ null if customers is null
Dim count as Integer? = customers?[0]?.Orders?.Count(); // null if customers, the first customer, or Orders is null

Dim length = customers?.Length ' null if customers is null
Dim first as Customer = customers?(0) ' null if customers is null
Dim count as Integer? = customers?(0)?.Orders?.Count() ' null if customers, the first customer, or Orders is null
```

The last example demonstrates that the null-condition operators are short-circuiting. If one operation in a chain of conditional member access and index operation returns null, then the rest of the chain’s execution stops. Other operations with lower precedence in the expression continue. For example, `E` in the following always executes, and the `??` and `==` operations execute.

```vb-c#
```csharp
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@svick Can you add semicolons at the ends of the lines of C# code?

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@svick svick Mar 24, 2017

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Those are not valid C# statements, so semicolons don't make sense here. I think they are just supposed to be two separate expressions.

Do you think it would be clearer if they were expanded to statements? Something like:

var maybeE = A?.B?.C?[0] ?? E;
var equalsE = A?.B?.C?[0] == E;

A?.B?.C?[0] ?? E
A?.B?.C?[0] == E

```

```vb
A?.B?.C?(0) ?? E
A?.B?.C?(0) == E
```

Another use for the null-condition member access is invoking delegates in a thread-safe way with much less code. The old way requires code like the following:

```csharp
var handler = this.PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
handler(…)

handler(…);
```

```vb
Dim handler = AddressOf(Me.PropertyChanged)
If handler IsNot Nothing
Call handler(…)

```

The new way is much simpler:

```vb-c#
```csharp
PropertyChanged?.Invoke(e)
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Could you break this out into two separate code blocks (even though they're basically identical)?

PropertyChanged?.Invoke(e);
PropertyChanged?.Invoke(e)


```

```vb
PropertyChanged?.Invoke(e)
```

The new way is thread-safe because the compiler generates code to evaluate `PropertyChanged` one time only, keeping the result in temporary variable.
The new way is thread-safe because the compiler generates code to evaluate `PropertyChanged` one time only, keeping the result in a temporary variable.

You need to explicitly call the `Invoke` method because there is no null-conditional delegate invocation syntax `PropertyChanged?(e)`. There were too many ambiguous parsing situations to allow it.

Expand All @@ -88,4 +91,4 @@ PropertyChanged?.Invoke(e)
[C# Reference](../../../csharp/language-reference/index.md)
[C# Programming Guide](../../../csharp/programming-guide/index.md)
[Visual Basic Language Reference](../../../visual-basic/language-reference/index.md)
[Visual Basic Programming Guide](../../../visual-basic/programming-guide/index.md)
[Visual Basic Programming Guide](../../../visual-basic/programming-guide/index.md)