C# 4.0 Unleashed

Chapter 16. Collection Types

In This Chapter

• Nongeneric Collection Types 753

• Generic Collection Types 762

• Other Collection Types 775

No discussion of generic types is complete without a journey through the BCL’s built-in collection types. Prior to the introduction of generic in .NET 2.0, collection types had to be defined using System.Object for element types and whatnot. This caused quite a bit of grief and a poor development experience.

In this chapter, we look at the various collection types that come with the .NET Framework’s BCL, driving home the points about generics made in the previous chapter. Having a solid understanding of those collection types is invaluable for every C# programmer.