Boxing Conversion
Boxing is the process of converting a value type to the type object or to any interface type implemented by this value type. When the CLR boxes a value type, it wraps the value inside a System.Object and stores it on the managed heap.
Boxing is used to store value types in the garbage-collected heap. Boxing is an implicit conversion of a value type to the type object or to any interface type implemented by this value type. Boxing a value type allocates an object instance on the heap and copies the value into the new object.
Boxing is implicit
// Boxing copies the value of i into object o.
object o = i;
int i = 123;
object o = (object)i; // explicit boxing
Unboxing Conversion
Unboxing extracts the value type from the object.
Unboxing is an explicit conversion from the type object to a value type or from an interface type to a value type that implements the interface. An unboxing operation consists of: Checking the object instance to make sure that it is a boxed value of the given value type. Copying the value from the instance into the value-type variable.
Unboxing is explicit.
int i = 123; // a value type
object o = i; // boxing
int j = (int)o; // unboxing
source: msdn.microsoft.com
Unboxing extracts the value type from the object.
Unboxing is an explicit conversion from the type object to a value type or from an interface type to a value type that implements the interface. An unboxing operation consists of: Checking the object instance to make sure that it is a boxed value of the given value type. Copying the value from the instance into the value-type variable.
Unboxing is explicit.
int i = 123; // a value type
object o = i; // boxing
int j = (int)o; // unboxing
