Professional .NET 2.0 Generics

Chapter 4. Generic Classes

Many developers will view themselves primarily as consumers of generics. However, as you get more comfortable with generics, you're likely to find yourself introducing your own generic classes and frameworks. Before you can make that leap, though, you'll need to get comfortable with all the syntactic mutations that come along with creating your own generic classes. The goal of this chapter, then, is to dig into all of the details associated with building generic classes, explaining how generics extend the existing rules for defining and consuming classes. Fortunately, as you move through this chapter, you'll notice that the syntax rules for defining generic classes follow many of the same patterns you've already grown accustomed to with non-generic types. So, although there are certainly plenty of new generic concepts you'll need to absorb, you're likely to find it quite easy to make the transition to writing your own generic types.