What’s new in C# 14.0

🔥 Top 10 New Features in C# 14.0 — Explained with Examples by Shiva Sir

C# 14.0 brings several exciting features that make coding cleaner, faster, and more powerful. From field-backed properties to primary constructors, these new updates are designed to improve productivity and reduce boilerplate code. Let’s explore the top 10 most important features of C# 14.0 with simple explanations and examples.

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🧩 1️⃣ Field-backed Properties

The first feature is Field-backed Properties.
Earlier, developers had to manually create private backing fields for properties. Now, C# 14 introduces a new contextual keyword — field — that automatically represents the compiler-generated backing field.

public string Name
{
    get;
    set => field = value ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(value));
}

Here, the keyword field refers to the compiler-generated backing field.
This makes property validation and custom logic much simpler and cleaner.

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🧩 2️⃣ Extension Members

The second feature is Extension Members.
Previously, you could only create extension methods.
But now, you can also extend properties, events, and static members!

public static class StringExtensions
{
    public static int WordCount(this string str) => str.Split(' ').Length;
}

Now, you can simply use .WordCount() on any string object.
This improves code reusability and readability significantly.

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🧩 3️⃣ Null-Conditional Assignment

The third feature is Null-Conditional Assignment.
In earlier versions, the ?. operator was used only on the right-hand side.
Now, it can be safely used on the left-hand side too!

customer?.Order = new Order();

If customer is null, this line will be skipped; otherwise, the value will be safely assigned.
No more NullReferenceException errors!

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🧩 4️⃣ User-defined Compound Assignment Operators

The fourth feature allows User-defined Compound Operators.
Now, you can define custom operators like +=, -=, or *= for your own data types.

public struct Counter
{
    public int Value;
    public static Counter operator +(Counter c, int x) => new() { Value = c.Value + x };
    public static Counter operator +=(Counter c, int x) => c + x;
}

This is extremely useful for mathematical calculations, game logic, or any custom numeric types.

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🧩 5️⃣ Partial Constructors and Events

The fifth feature is Partial Constructors and Events.
C# 14 now allows constructors and events to be declared across multiple files.

partial class Employee
{
    partial void OnCreate();
    partial Employee() { OnCreate(); }
}

This is especially helpful in large enterprise projects for better code organization and maintainability.

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🧩 6️⃣ Improved Lambda Parameters

The next feature improves Lambda Parameters.
C# 14 allows you to use ref, in, and out modifiers directly inside lambda expressions.

var parse = (string s, out int x) => int.TryParse(s, out x);

This makes lambda expressions more concise, flexible, and expressive.

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🧩 7️⃣ nameof with Unbound Generics

This is a small but useful enhancement —
The nameof operator now works with unbound generic types.

Console.WriteLine(nameof(List<>));  // Output: List

This is quite handy for debugging, logging, and reflection purposes.

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🧩 8️⃣ Better Span<T> and ReadOnlySpan<T> Conversions

C# 14 improves Span<T> and ReadOnlySpan<T> conversions.
You can now perform implicit conversions more easily.

Span<int> numbers = stackalloc int[] { 1, 2, 3 };
ReadOnlySpan<int> view = numbers;  // now supported

This feature is critical for high-performance scenarios like file handling, memory management, and low-level operations.

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🧩 9️⃣ Primary Constructors for Classes

This is one of the most awaited features — Primary Constructors for Classes.
Now, you can declare constructor parameters directly in the class header.

public class Student(string name, int age)
{
    public string Name { get; } = name;
    public int Age { get; } = age;
}

Earlier, this syntax was only available for records.
Now, it works with regular classes too — resulting in cleaner and shorter code.

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🧩 🔟 Ref Fields & Scoped Modifiers

The tenth feature introduces Ref Fields and Scoped Modifiers.
You can now define fields as ref and use scoped to control their memory lifetime.

ref struct Buffer
{
    public ref int Value;
    public Buffer(ref int v) => Value = ref v;
}

This gives developers more control over memory safety and performance, especially in high-speed or low-level applications.