What does "this" refer to in a C# method signature and is there a VB.NET equivalent?

Question

I've been watching the ASP.NET MVC Storefront video series again and saw something that I've never noticed or payed any attention to before. I noticed there were a lot of references to this in the signature lists of various methods. Here is an example of one:

public static Category WithCategoryName(this IList<Category> list, string categoryName)   
{
    return 
    (
        from s in list
        where s.Name.Equals(categoryName, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)
        select s
    )
    .SingleOrDefault();
}

I immediately understand the IList<Category> list and the string categoryName in the signature, but was confused about what this does.

So, being a 95% VB guy, I popped the code into my favorite converter and got:

<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension>
Public Shared Function WithCategoryName(list As IList(Of Category), categoryName As String) As Category

    Return 
    (
        From s In list 
        Where s.Name.Equals(categoryName, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)
        Select s
    )
    .SingleOrDefault()

End Function

First of all, I'm not totally sure why <System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> was included, maybe it's just the converter, nevertheless, as you can see, this wasn't converted into anything that I can tell unless it has to do with the aforementioned <System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension>.

So the questions are:

1. What does this actually refer to and/or do in the C# method signature?
2. Is there a VB.NET equivalent?

---

Response to Question 1:

So we've definitely clarified that this does in fact denote an extension method and that from the answers given, it seems there's no inline VB equivalent.

I would like to add that since I mentioned the ASP.NET MVC Storefront video, the C# example above was pulled from his CategoryFilters class. I assume this is how you implement what was referenced as a pipes and filters or pipeline methodology.

---

Response to Question 2:

I assume VB.NET's way of handling extension methods is something like this for example:

Imports System.Runtime.CompilerServices 

Public Module StringExtensions 

    <Extension()> _ 
    Public Function IsNullOrBlank(ByVal s As String) As Boolean 
       Return s Is Nothing OrElse s.Trim.Length.Equals(0) 
    End Function 

End Module

Answer 1

That is an extension method. The this specifies that it is an extension method of this <parameter> type, in your case, IList<Category>.

There is a VB.NET equivalent here, though it is an attribute, not a keyword.

Extension methods need to know the type to apply to, note that this is apparent with generics. An extension method:

public static string GetNameOf(this List<Category> category) { return ""; }

Will not be available on anything other than List<Category>.