Question

In C# some collections such as ArrayList and HashTable have generic alternatives which are List<T> and Dictionary<TKey, TValue>.

Does Array also have a generic alternative?

Answer 1

If you’re looking for the generic collection type that most closely resembles an array, then you probably want a List<T>. But it’s not really the same thing.

To expand on what others have said: the point of having generic types is so that a programmer can then use type-specific instances of those generic types, based on the needs of the current program. Arrays are already type-specific. You can always just take a T[].

For example, look at this simple function definition:

void SomeFunction(int[] x)  

You could also think of it like this:

void SomeFunction<T>(T[] x)  

where the programmer just chose to call it with an int for the type parameter:

SomeFunction<int>(myIntArray)