The difference between MessagingCenter and standard .NET events in Xamarin can be understood in terms of their design patterns, coupling, and use cases.
MessagingCenter
Design Pattern: MessagingCenter implements the publish-subscribe (pub-sub) pattern. This pattern allows publishers to send messages without knowing who the subscribers are, and subscribers to listen for messages without knowing who the publishers are[4].
Coupling: MessagingCenter promotes loose coupling between components. This means that different parts of the application can communicate without having direct references to each other. This is particularly useful in mobile applications where you want to keep the codebase modular and maintainable[1][3].
Use Cases: MessagingCenter is ideal for scenarios where you need to broadcast messages to multiple subscribers or when the components involved are not directly related. For example, it can be used to notify various parts of an application about a change in state, such as a user logging in or data being updated[2][4].
Multicast: MessagingCenter supports multicast functionality, meaning multiple publishers can send the same message, and multiple subscribers can listen for the same message[4].
Memory Management: MessagingCenter uses weak references internally, which helps in preventing memory leaks by allowing objects to be garbage collected when they are no longer needed[4].
Standard .NET Events
Design Pattern: Standard .NET events follow the observer pattern, where an event source (publisher) maintains a list of its dependents (subscribers) and notifies them of state changes[2][5].
Coupling: Standard .NET events create a tighter coupling between the publisher and the subscriber. The subscriber must have a reference to the publisher to subscribe to its events, which can lead to more complex dependencies and potential memory management issues[4][6].
