The purpose of my blog is to explain things for a beginner to intermediate c# programmer. I’ve seen several blog post that use lambda expressions always assuming the audience is familiar with them. The purpose of this post is to make them simple and easily understood. Let’s begin with a definition.

A lambda expression is an anonymous function that can contain expressions and statements, and can be used to create delegates or expression tree types.

So anonymous function… delegates or expression tree types? I don’t get it??? Confused yet?

 

Lets break this into a few definitions and jump right into the code.

anonymous function – is an "inline" statement or expression that can be used wherever a delegate type is expected.
delegate - is a type that references a method. Once a delegate is assigned a method, it behaves exactly like that method. The delegate method can be used like any other method, with parameters and a return value.
Expression trees - represent code in a tree-like data structure, where each node is an expression, for example, a method call or a binary operation such as x < y.

 

Don’t worry if this still sounds confusing, lets jump right into the code with a simple 3 line program. We are going to use a Function Delegate (all you need to remember is that this delegate returns a value.) Lambda expressions are used most commonly with the Func and Action delegates, so you will see an example of both of these.

Is equivalent to

In the example, there is a single parameter, x, and the expression is x*x.

I’m going to stop here to make sure you are still with me. A lambda expression is an unnamed method written in place of a delegate instance. In other words, the compiler converts the lambda expression to either a :

• A delegate instance
• An expression tree

All lambda have the following form:

(parameters) => expression or statement block

Now look back to the ones we have created. It should start to sink in. Don’t get stuck on the => form, use it as an identifier of a lambda.

A Lamba expression can also be written in the following form:

This form may be easier to read but consumes more space.

Lets try an Action delegate – this delegate does not return a value.

Lambdas can also capture outer variables (such as the example below)

A lambda expression can reference the local variables and parameters of the method in which it’s defined. Outer variables referenced by a lambda expression are called captured variables.

Lamba’s can also with a strongly typed list to loop through a collection.

 

Outputs:

1

2

3

4

I think this will get you started with Lambda’s, as always consult the MSDN documentation for more information. Still confused? Hopefully you are not.