Difference between wiring events with and without "new"

Question

In C#, what is the difference (if any) between these two lines of code?

tmrMain.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(tmrMain_Tick);

and

tmrMain.Elapsed += tmrMain_Tick;

Both appear to work exactly the same. Does C# just assume you mean the former when you type the latter?

Answer 1

I did this

static void Hook1()
{
    someEvent += new EventHandler( Program_someEvent );
}

static void Hook2()
{
    someEvent += Program_someEvent;
}

And then ran ildasm over the code.
The generated MSIL was exactly the same.

So to answer your question, yes they are the same thing.
The compiler is just inferring that you want someEvent += new EventHandler( Program_someEvent );
-- You can see it creating the new EventHandler object in both cases in the MSIL

Answer 2

It used to be (.NET 1.x days) that the long form was the only way to do it. In both cases you are newing up a delegate to point to the Program_someEvent method.