VB.NET boolean doesn't get its default value in loop?

Question

I have something like this:

For i = 1 To 4
        Dim x As Boolean
        If i < 3 Then x = True
        Console.WriteLine(x)
Next

Gives me: True True True True

and this

For i = 1 To 4
        Dim x As Boolean = False
        If i < 3 Then x = True
        Console.WriteLine(x)
Next

Gives me: True True False False

Aren't they both supposed to give me the second result? The MSDN article says that The default value of Boolean is False.

Is it a bug or am I missing something?

Answer 1

Thank you for the very interesting question. I took the sample code:

Module Module1

    Sub Main()
        Test1()
        Test2()
        Console.ReadKey()
    End Sub

    Public Sub Test1()
        For i = 1 To 4
            Dim x As Boolean
            If i < 3 Then x = True
            Console.WriteLine(x)
        Next
    End Sub

    Public Sub Test2()
        For i = 1 To 4
            Dim x As Boolean = False
            If i < 3 Then x = True
            Console.WriteLine(x)
        Next
    End Sub
End Module

And took a look at the generated IL via ILSpy:

Test1()

    .method public static 
        void Test1 () cil managed 
    {
        // Method begins at RVA 0x2120
        // Code size 33 (0x21)
        .maxstack 2
        .locals init (
            [0] int32 i,
            [1] bool x,
            [2] bool VB$CG$t_bool$S0,
            [3] int32 VB$CG$t_i4$S0
        )

        IL_0000: nop
        IL_0001: ldc.i4.1                   
        IL_0002: stloc.0                        // put 1 on top of stack
        // loop start (head: IL_0003)
            IL_0003: ldloc.0                    // load i on top of stack 
            IL_0004: ldc.i4.3                   // load 3 on top of stack
            IL_0005: clt                        // compare if 0 is less than 3
            IL_0007: stloc.2                 
            IL_0008: ldloc.2
            IL_0009: brfalse.s IL_000d          // if i >= 3, jump to IL_000d

            IL_000b: ldc.i4.1                   // load true onto stack
            IL_000c: stloc.1                    // set x = true

            IL_000d: ldloc.1                    // load x onto stack
            IL_000e: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(bool) // print x
            IL_0013: nop
            IL_0014: nop
            IL_0015: ldloc.0                    // load i onto stack
            IL_0016: ldc.i4.1                   // load 1 onto stack
            IL_0017: add.ovf                    // add i + 1
            IL_0018: stloc.0                    // set i = i + 1
            IL_0019: ldloc.0                    // load i
            IL_001a: ldc.i4.4                   // load 4
            IL_001b: stloc.3                    // store 4 in iterator variable
            IL_001c: ldloc.3                    // load 4 from iterator variable
            IL_001d: ble.s IL_0003              // if i <= 4, go to beginning of loop
        // end loop
        IL_001f: nop
        IL_0020: ret
    } // end of method Module1::Test1

Test2()

        .method public static 
        void Test2 () cil managed 
    {
        // Method begins at RVA 0x2150
        // Code size 35 (0x23)
        .maxstack 2
        .locals init (
            [0] int32 i,
            [1] bool x,
            [2] bool VB$CG$t_bool$S0,
            [3] int32 VB$CG$t_i4$S0
        )

        IL_0000: nop
        IL_0001: ldc.i4.1                   // load 1 onto stack
        IL_0002: stloc.0                    // set i = 1
        // loop start (head: IL_0003)       
            IL_0003: ldc.i4.0               // load 0 onto stack
            IL_0004: stloc.1                // set x = false
            IL_0005: ldloc.0                // load i onto stack
            IL_0006: ldc.i4.3               // load 3 onto stack
            IL_0007: clt                    // compare i to 3
            IL_0009: stloc.2                // store result in iterator variable
            IL_000a: ldloc.2                // load iterator variable
            IL_000b: brfalse.s IL_000f      // if i >= 3, jump to IL_00f

            IL_000d: ldc.i4.1               // load 1 onto stack
            IL_000e: stloc.1                // set x = true

            IL_000f: ldloc.1                // load x onto stack
            IL_0010: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(bool)    // print x
            IL_0015: nop            
            IL_0016: nop
            IL_0017: ldloc.0                // load i onto stack
            IL_0018: ldc.i4.1               // load 1 onto stack
            IL_0019: add.ovf                // add i + 1
            IL_001a: stloc.0                // set i = i + 1
            IL_001b: ldloc.0                // load i onto stack
            IL_001c: ldc.i4.4               // load 4 onto stack
            IL_001d: stloc.3                // store 4 into iterator variable
            IL_001e: ldloc.3                // load 4 from iterator variable
            IL_001f: ble.s IL_0003          // if i <= 4, go to beginning of loop
        // end loop
        IL_0021: nop
        IL_0022: ret
    } // end of method Module1::Test2

What this tells us is that even though you are declaring x in the loop (Dim x as Boolean) and (Dim x as boolean = False), the actual declaration of the variable happens outside the loop.

Because you give your variable a default value inside the loop in Test2, it is actually setting the value to False at the beginning of each iteration. Because you do not assign a value to x in the Test1 loop and it only gets declared once outside of the loop, it retains the value it had in the previous iteration.