Generics

Summary

• Generics feature added in C# 2.0
• A generic type uses a Type parameter instead of hard-coding all the types.

Why Generics?

1. Elimination of casts.
2. Enabling programmers to implement generic algorithms.
3. Stronger type checks at compile time (Fixing compile-time errors is easier than fixing runtime errors, which can be difficult to find.)

Generic method implementation.

   1:  using System;

   2:  using System.Collections.Generic;

   3:   

   4:  namespace GenericDisplayArray

   5:  {

   6:      class Program

   7:      {

   8:          static void Main(string[] args)

   9:          {

  10:              int[] intArray = { 1, 2, 3 };

  11:              double[] doubleArray = { 1.1, 2.2, 3.3 };

  12:              char[] charArray = { 'A', 'B', 'C' };

  13:             

  14:              Console.WriteLine("Display Integer array using Generic Method:");

  15:              DisplayArray<int>(intArray); // How to call generic method.

  16:   

  17:              Console.WriteLine("\nDisplay Double array using Generic Method: ");

  18:              DisplayArray(doubleArray); // How to call generic method.

  19:   

  20:              Console.WriteLine("\nDisplay Char array using Generic Method: ");

  21:              DisplayArray<char>(charArray); // How to call generic method.

  22:              Console.ReadKey();

  23:          }

  24:   

  25:          /// <summary>

  26:          /// Display any type of array.

  27:          /// </summary>

  28:          /// <typeparam name="T">Pass the datatype</typeparam>

  29:          /// <param name="inputArray">Pass the all type of array</param>

  30:          private static void DisplayArray<T>(T[] inputArray)

  31:          {

  32:              foreach (T element in inputArray)

  33:              {

  34:                  Console.Write("{0} ", element);

  35:              }

  36:          }

  37:      }

  38:  }