Anonymous type equality

Let's say you instantiate two variables (a and b) using anonymous types. They both have the same two properties (x and y) with equal values.

   1:  var a = new { x = 1, y = 2 };

   2:  var b = new { y = 2, x = 1 };

Do you think these two variables are equal?

   1:  var areEquel = a.Equals(b);

   2:  Console.WriteLine(areEquel); //Prints false :O

These two variables are not equal. Not something I expected!

If we look at the IL the C# compiler produced, it starts making sense though.


There are two different types generated, although the properties we assigned are the same. What differs is the sequence of the property assignment.

This is defined in chapter 7.6.10.6 Anonymous object creation expressions of the C# 4.0 specifications.

Within the same program, two anonymous object initializers that specify a sequence of properties of the same names and compile-time types in the same order will produce instances of the same anonymous type.

Conclusion

When defining anonymous types, the sequence of the property assignment matters. If the sequence of the property assignment differs, different types are defined by the C# compiler.

Also read the follow-up.