Question

If have a

struct A {
  public double[] Data;
  public int X;
}

How can I force a deep copy when using operator= or adding instances of A to a container?

The problem is for example:

A a = new A();
var list = new List<A>();
list.Add(a); // does not make a deep copy of Data
A b = a; // does not make a deep copy of Data

Do I really have to implement my own DeepClone method and call it every time? This would be extremly error-prone …

Answer 1

In general you should avoid putting mutable reference types like Array into structs. See this question and answer.

So make your class a reference type and give it a DeepCopy method. Or even better – make your type immutable so that you don’t need to make a copy.