Why structs are used to encapsulate a string?

[ppasieka]

I see that the library is using structs to encapsulate strings. The types are public, so nobody will stop the consumers from calling the default constructor and, in consequence, entering a bad state.

Example from here: https://github.com/gregsdennis/json-everything/blob/master/JsonPointer/PointerSegment.cs

public struct PointerSegment : IEquatable<PointerSegment>
{
		/// <summary>
		/// Gets the source string.
		/// </summary>
		public string Source { get; private set; }
		
		public static PointerSegment Parse(string? source, bool uriFormatted)
		{
			if (source == null) throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(source));
			/... rest of code

What is the benefit of using a struct instead of class here? The encapsulated string will end up on the heap anyway?

Classes would disallow the use of default constructor, which in consequence would enforce correctness

[gregsdennis]

I'm not sure I have a good answer here. I was thinking along the lines of following in the footsteps of JsonElement, which is a struct. Not sure I thought through it enough.

I'll explore this and see what changes are easily supported.