Create an index for a class

Questions

I have a class called undergrad which keeps track of students first and last names. I would like each object to have an index. In my program class, I create a List<> of undergrads. How would I set it so each object in the list has a unique identifying number, and what would it look like in the program class?

public class Undergrad     {         String fName, lName;         public Undergrad()         {         }         public Undergrad(string firstName, string lastName)         {             this.fName = firstName;             this.lName = lastName;         }     }

Answers

You would need to add a property to the class to store that index for starters. This could either be an integer or a UniqueIdentifer.
If you go with an integer, you'll need somewhere else (such as a database) to store all the indices so that you're application knows where to get the next value at.
With a UniqueIdentifer (System.Guid) you won't get duplicate collisions so you could just create that inline.

OPTION 1

public class Undergrad     {         String fName, lName;         public Guid UniqueId { get; set; }         public Undergrad()         {             UniqueId = System.Guid.NewGuid();         }         public Undergrad(string firstName, string lastName)         {             UniqueId = System.Guid.NewGuid();             this.fName = firstName;             this.lName = lastName;         }     }

Option 2

public class Undergrad     {         String fName, lName;         public int UniqueId { get; set; }         public Undergrad()      {           UniqueId = //LoadFromDatabase();      }         public Undergrad(string firstName, string lastName)         {             UniqueId = //LoadFromDatabase();             this.fName = firstName;             this.lName = lastName;         }     }

Where are you currently storing your undergrad information ? if it's in a database already, I'd expect you to have an id field on the object already.

Last thing, when you put these into a List<T>, the list will have it's own index (for position within the list) which is a separate concept.