Casting vs using the 'as' keyword in the CLR

public interface IMyInterface
{
    void AMethod();
}

public class MyClass : IMyInterface
{
    public void AMethod()
    {
       //Do work
    }

    // Other helper methods....
}

public class Implementation
{
    IMyInterface _MyObj;
    MyClass _myCls1;
    MyClass _myCls2;

    public Implementation()
    {
        _MyObj = new MyClass();

        // What is the difference here:
        _myCls1 = (MyClass)_MyObj;
        _myCls2 = (_MyObj as MyClass);
    }
}

// Bad code - checks type twice for no reason
if (randomObject is TargetType)
{
    TargetType foo = (TargetType) randomObject;
    // Do something with foo
}

// This will throw an exception if randomObject is non-null and
// refers to an object of an incompatible type. The cast is
// the best code if that's the behaviour you want.
TargetType convertedRandomObject = (TargetType) randomObject;

TargetType convertedRandomObject = randomObject as TargetType;
if (convertedRandomObject != null)
{
    // Do stuff with convertedRandomObject
}

TargetType? convertedRandomObject = randomObject as TargetType?;
if (convertedRandomObject != null)
{
    // Do stuff with convertedRandomObject.Value
}

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;

class Test
{
    const int Size = 30000000;

    static void Main()
    {
        object[] values = new object[Size];
        for (int i = 0; i < Size - 2; i += 3)
        {
            values[i] = null;
            values[i + 1] = "x";
            values[i + 2] = new object();
        }
        FindLengthWithIsAndCast(values);
        FindLengthWithIsAndAs(values);
        FindLengthWithAsAndNullCheck(values);
    }

    static void FindLengthWithIsAndCast(object[] values)
    {
        Stopwatch sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        int len = 0;
        foreach (object o in values)
        {
            if (o is string)
            {
                string a = (string) o;
                len += a.Length;
            }
        }
        sw.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("Is and Cast: {0} : {1}", len,
                          (long)sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);
    }

    static void FindLengthWithIsAndAs(object[] values)
    {
        Stopwatch sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        int len = 0;
        foreach (object o in values)
        {
            if (o is string)
            {
                string a = o as string;
                len += a.Length;
            }
        }
        sw.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("Is and As: {0} : {1}", len,
                          (long)sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);
    }

    static void FindLengthWithAsAndNullCheck(object[] values)
    {
        Stopwatch sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        int len = 0;
        foreach (object o in values)
        {
            string a = o as string;
            if (a != null)
            {
                len += a.Length;
            }
        }
        sw.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("As and null check: {0} : {1}", len,
                          (long)sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);
    }
}

int value;
if (int.TryParse(text, value))
{
    value = int.Parse(text);
    // Use value
}

_myCls2 = _myObj is MyClass ? (MyClass)_myObj : null;

public class MyClass
{
    public static void Main()
    {
    	// Call the 2 methods
    }

    public void DirectCast(Object obj)
    {
    	if ( obj is MyClass)
    	{
    		MyClass myclass = (MyClass) obj;
    		Console.WriteLine(obj);
    	}
    }


    public void UsesAs(object obj)
    {
    	MyClass myclass = obj as MyClass;
    	if (myclass != null)
    	{
    		Console.WriteLine(obj);
    	}
    }
}

.method public hidebysig instance void  DirectCast(object obj) cil managed
{
  // Code size       22 (0x16)
  .maxstack  8
  IL_0000:  ldarg.1
  IL_0001:  isinst     MyClass
  IL_0006:  brfalse.s  IL_0015
  IL_0008:  ldarg.1
  IL_0009:  castclass  MyClass
  IL_000e:  pop
  IL_000f:  ldarg.1
  IL_0010:  call       void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(object)
  IL_0015:  ret
} // end of method MyClass::DirectCast

.method public hidebysig instance void  UsesAs(object obj) cil managed
{
  // Code size       17 (0x11)
  .maxstack  1
  .locals init (class MyClass V_0)
  IL_0000:  ldarg.1
  IL_0001:  isinst     MyClass
  IL_0006:  stloc.0
  IL_0007:  ldloc.0
  IL_0008:  brfalse.s  IL_0010
  IL_000a:  ldarg.1
  IL_000b:  call       void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(object)
  IL_0010:  ret
} // end of method MyClass::UsesAs

public class Foo
{
    public string Value;

    public static explicit operator string(Foo f)
    {
        return f.Value;
    }

}

public class Example
{
    public void Convert()
    {
        var f = new Foo();
        f.Value = "abc";

        string cast = (string)f;
        string tryCast = f as string;
    }
}

if (randomObject is TargetType)
{
    TargetType foo = randomObject as TargetType;
    // Do something with foo
}

TargetType convertedRandomObject = randomObject as TargetType;
if (convertedRandomObject != null)
{
    // Do stuff with convertedRandomObject
}

IMyInterface = (IMyInterface)someobj;