An old friend

Implicit Operators in C# are really cool, they allow you to convert an object to another without specifying an explicit cast.

//Lets pretend this is some usefull program
using System;

public class Program
{
  public static void Main () 
  {
    //wait this cannot possibly compile.... can it?
    FridgeItem myFridgeItem =  "Hello World";
    //yes it does, implicit fool!!
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("my name is {0},
    		my expiration date is {1}, 
    		and my purchase date is {2}",
            myFridgeItem.Name, myFridgeItem.Expires,
            myFridgeItem.PurchaseDate));
  }
}
//some useless object
public class FridgeItem 
{
  public string Name { get; set; }
  public DateTime Expires { get; set; }
  public DateTime PurchaseDate { get; set; }
  //this is where the fairy dust goes
  public static implicit operator FridgeItem (string stuff)
  {
    //we convert a string into something else.
    var item = new FridgeItem
    {
      Name = stuff.ToUpper(),
      //we just add random stuff here.
      PurchaseDate = DateTime.Now,
      Expires = DateTime.Now.AddDays(30),
    };
      return item;
    }
}

use responsibly.