Value-typed objects are typically stored on the stack, while reference-typed objects are stored on the heap. You can, however, convert an instance of a value type to a reference type object through a process known as boxing.
In the example below, we box i, assigning it to a reference type variable. Because i derives from System.Object(object), as do all types in .NET, we can assign i to o without doing a cast. A new object is created on the heap, the value of i is copied into it, and the variable o is set to reference the new object.
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| int i = 46;object o = i; // Box i |
Because a copy of the value-typed object is made, you can change the original object without changing the new object on the heap.
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| i = 47; // i now 47, but o still points to object with value of 46 |