Understanding Delegates in C#

A deeper look at how delegates work in C#, including declaration, instantiation, and invocation.

Declaring a Delegate

A delegate is declared using the delegate keyword followed by a return type, name, and parameter list, which together define the method signature it can reference.

Instantiating a Delegate

A delegate instance is created by assigning it a method that matches its signature, after which the delegate variable can be used to call that method indirectly.

Invoking a Delegate

A delegate is invoked just like a regular method call, using its variable name followed by parentheses, which triggers the referenced method or methods.

Why Delegates Matter

Delegates enable powerful patterns like event handling and callbacks, letting code decide at runtime which method should actually be executed.