[Mono-list] How do I reference generic classes in C#???

[Chris Howie]

On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 4:58 PM, Luke B <muchomuse at gmail.com> wrote:
> Uh oh, I feel like this is turning into a Java vs. DotNet culture debate
> here, and I really don't care enough about either side to get into that. All
> I'm saying is that I like the way Java lets you directly access a generic
> class without refering to the type in it. Don't like my example? Fine, make
> it static Mug.MugsInUse, which is incremented each time a constructor is
> called. Unlike topology, that would change. My point is the same. Now could
> that be done another way? Sure. I could have a MugInUse counter class or
> whatever. At a technical level, it doesn't matter, it would work as well,
> there are a million ways to make it work. Its about what's intuitive, what
> sits easy in the mind. And what sits easy in my mind is that, a List is a
> List whether its of groceries or things to do, and a Mug is a Mug whether it
> has Cocoa in it or Coffee. And I should be able to refer to a List or Mug as
> an entity regardless of what they contain.
> But whatever, this is just my observation. And I'm pretty new to DotNet, I
> may yet "see the light". Give me 6 months of getting used to DotNet and if I
> still see things the same way, I'll come back and we'll have a real debate
> on it. :)

I can see that side of things.  I'm just more of a technical person,
so seeing List<T> as a "blueprint" type and List<string> as a concrete
type using that blueprint seems intuitive to me.  Then it naturally
follows that List<string>.StaticMember and List<object>.StaticMember
are different properties.

It's probably more of a "how your brain works" thing than an actual
design advantage for either framework.

-- 
Chris Howie
http://www.chrishowie.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Crazycomputers