Parse

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's C# journey — lesson 34 of 69.

In C#, when you read input from the console using Console.ReadLine(), it always returns a string. To use this input as a number or another data type, you need to convert it. The Parse method is commonly used for this purpose.

Parse is a method that converts a string to another data type. It throws an exception if the conversion fails.

Here's an example:

string numberString = "42";
int number = int.Parse(numberString); // Converts "42" to the integer 42

If the string cannot be parsed, Parse will throw a FormatException. For example:

string invalidNumberString = "abc";
int number = int.Parse(invalidNumberString); // Throws FormatException

Other common types:

Data Type	Parse Method	Example
`int`	`int.Parse()`	`int number = int.Parse("42");`
`double`	`double.Parse()`	`double number = double.Parse("42.5");`
`float`	`float.Parse()`	`float number = float.Parse("42.5");`
`bool`	`bool.Parse()`	`bool isTrue = bool.Parse("true");`

Challenge

Beginner

Write a C# program that reads two numbers from the console as strings, converts them to integers using Parse, and then prints the sum of the numbers. The program should do the following:

Read the first number as a string.
Read the second number as a string.
Use int.Parse() to convert the numbers to integers.
Print the sum of the two numbers.

Cheat sheet

Use Parse methods to convert strings to other data types:

string numberString = "42";
int number = int.Parse(numberString); // Converts "42" to integer 42

Parse throws a FormatException if the conversion fails:

string invalidNumberString = "abc";
int number = int.Parse(invalidNumberString); // Throws FormatException

Common Parse methods:

Data Type	Parse Method	Example
`int`	`int.Parse()`	`int number = int.Parse("42");`
`double`	`double.Parse()`	`double number = double.Parse("42.5");`
`float`	`float.Parse()`	`float number = float.Parse("42.5");`
`bool`	`bool.Parse()`	`bool isTrue = bool.Parse("true");`

Try it yourself

using System;

public class Program {
    public static void Main(string[] args) {
        string firstNumberString = Console.ReadLine();
        string secondNumberString = Console.ReadLine();

        // Use Parse to convert the numbers
        
        
        // Print the sum of the numbers
        
    }
}