On Feb 6, 2013, at 10:28 AM, Stuart Golodetz <stu...@semmle.com> wrote:
> do you know whether the distinction being made by Mono between a generic type
> and the instance type corresponding to it is only of relevance to the
> compiler, or does it have real implications for an application-level
> developer?
It would be helpful if you used existing/"normal" terminology; I _think_ your'e
talking about "open generic types" (e.g. List<T>) vs. "closed generic types
(e.g. List<int>).
Assuming that's the case, then yes, this does have implications for app
developers. Suppose you wanted to know if a type implemented IList<T>, but you
didn't care about the T?
// Does FooCollection implement IList<T>?
class FooCollection : Collection<Foo> {
}
Here, you do need to care about the difference between open and closed generic
types:
csharp> typeof(FooCollection).BaseType.GetInterfaces().Any(i => i ==
typeof(IList<Foo>));
true
The above requires that we know the closed generic type IList<Foo>. What if we
don't know/care about Foo specifically, but do care about IList<T>?
csharp> typeof(FooCollection).BaseType.GetInterfaces().Any(i => i ==
typeof(IList<>));
false
Oops.
So now the developer needs to know & care, and behave accordingly:
csharp> typeof(FooCollection).BaseType.GetInterfaces().Any(i =>
i.IsGenericType && i.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(IList<>));
true
- Jon
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