Mutable vs. Immutable: Advanced C# Strategy by Senior Developers

Mutable vs. Immutable: Advanced C# Strategy by Senior Developers

In traditional C# programming, developers often work with mutable classes, where object states can be changed after instantiation. This mutability offers flexibility but comes with its share of challenges — race conditions in multi-threaded environments, unexpected state changes, and bugs that are hard to trace.

Consider a simple example of a mutable class:

public class MutablePerson
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

// Modifying state after creation:
var person = new MutablePerson { Name = "John", Age = 30 };
person.Name = "Doe";  // State changed!

While this might seem convenient at first, issues arise in complex systems where multiple components interact with the same object, leading to unpredictable behavior. So, how do we solve this?

Immutability

Immutability offers a different approach — objects whose state cannot change after creation. Unlike mutable classes, immutable classes enforce consistency, predictability, and thread safety. It eliminates entire classes of bugs and simplifies reasoning about code…