What is the purpose of 'var'? [duplicate]

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What's the point of the var keyword?

I'm not asking how it works. I am not asking if it affects performance. I already know those answers.

I want to know what inspired the MS C# team to add it to the language in the first place. You don't add frivolous things to a language. There must have been a noteworthy problem it solved. What was/is that problem?

The closest example I've seen to "the problem it solves" is when using anonymous types, like this:

var linqResult = from element in SomeCollection s
                 elect new { element.A, element.B } 

The irony about this usage is that style and coding-standards guides (such as provided by Microsoft) advise the coder to avoid using 'var' when the resulting type is not obvious. In other words, the (presumably) intended purpose of 'var' is in conflict with the coding-standard guidelines.

If I were writing coding-standards, and was trying to prevent overuse of 'var', I'd be somewhat inclined to say "use 'var' only in response to anonymous types." But that brings the question full-circle: what was/is the purpose of having added 'var' to the language?

Answer 1

Anonymous Types was the big one, but also reducing repetition within methods:

Dictionary<MyCustomType, List<MyOtherCustomType>> dict = new Dictionary<MyCustomType, List<MyOtherCustomType>>();