.net - When is using the C# ref keyword ever a good idea?

Question

The more I see ref used in production code, the more misuse I encounter and the more pain it causes me. I have come to hate this keyword, because from a framework-building standpoint, it seems silly. When would it be a good idea to communicate to users of your code the notion of maybe changing an object reference/value out from beneath them?

By contrast, I love out keywords and I love even more when no keywords are used at all, in both cases because of the guarantees you're given when using them. Ref on the other hand makes no guarantees, except that you'll be forced to initialize the parameter before you pass it in, even though nothing may be changed about it.

I'm no sage developer though; I'm sure it's got practically applicable uses. I'd just like to know what they are.

Answer 1

The Framework Design Guidelines (a book by Krzysztof Cwalina and Brad Abrams) recommend to avoid both ref and out parameters.

AVOID using out or ref parameters.

Using out or ref parameters requires experience with pointers, understanding how value types and reference types differ, and handling methods with multiple return values. Also, the difference between out and ref parameters is not widely understood. Framework architects designing for a general audience should not expect users to master working with out or ref parameters.

The Framework Design Guidelines cite the canonical Swap method as a valid exception:

void Swap<T>(ref T obj1, ref T obj2)
{
    T temp = obj1;
    obj1 = obj2;
    obj2 = temp;
}

but at the same time a comment remarks

Swap always comes up in these discussions, but I have not written code that actually needed a swap method since college. Unless you've got a very good reason, avoid out and ref altogether.