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Asked: 2026-05-26T07:06:59+00:00

I’m just curious, what is considered the best practice for the following example: I

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I’m just curious, what is considered the “best practice” for the following example: I have either a numeric array or numeric list and want to supply it to a function to return the average.

Is it better to overload the method for each case:

double Average(int[] intArray){...}
double Average(uint[] uintArray){...}
double Average(double[] doubleArray){...}
...
double Average(List<int> intList){...}
...

Or, is it better to use some type of interface:

double Average(IEnumerable arrayOrList)
{
   // Branching logic for array or list.
}

Thanks!

EDIT

Average is used as an example. I have several numeric algorithms which need to be able to run on a variety of numeric data.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Take a look at the various overloads of the Enumerable.Average Extension Method for guidance:

    public static double Average(this IEnumerable<int> source)

    A method in this style works for any collection type that implements IEnumerable<T> (T[], List<T>, HashSet<T>, ReadOnlyCollection<T>, …) and avoids the overhead incurred by a non-generic IEnumerable argument. Since C# doesn’t have a where T : num constraint, you need to provide an overload for all primitive types you wish to support (Int32, Int64, Single, Double, Decimal, …).

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