Classes: The Basics - Illustrated C# 2005 - page 51

Keyword Parentheses are required.
↓ ↓
new TypeName ()
↑
Type

￿ If the memory allocated is for a reference type, the object-creation expression returns a

reference to the allocated and initialized instance of the type in the heap.

This is exactly what you need to allocate and initialize the memory to hold the class
instance data. Use the new operator to create an object-creation expression, and assign the
value returned by it to the class variable. Here's an example:

Dealer TheDealer; // Declare variable for the reference.
TheDealer = new Dealer() ; // Allocate memory for the class object.
↑
Object-creation expression

The code on the left in Figure 4-3 shows the new operator used to allocate memory and cre-
ate an instance of class Dealer , which is then assigned to the class variable. The memory
structure is illustrated on the right side of the figure.

Figure 4-3. Allocating memory for the data of a class variable

Combining the Steps
The two steps can be combined by initializing the variable with the object-creation expression.

Declare variable
↓
Dealer TheDealer = new Dealer(); // Declare and initialize.
↑
Initialize with an object-creation expression.