Question

Is there a shorter way of creating an IDictionary<_,obj>, possibly without boxing every value? This is what I have.

let values =
  [ "a", box 1
    "b", box "foo"
    "c", box true ]
  |> dict

Dictionary<_,obj>.Add can be called without boxing, but I couldn’t figure out a way to use it that’s shorter than what I have.

I’m hoping for something other than defining a boxing operator.

EDIT

Based on Brian’s suggestion, here’s one way to do it, but it has its own problems.

let values =
  Seq.zip ["a"; "b"; "c"] ([1; "foo"; true] : obj list) |> dict

Answer 1

Here’s a solution, following kvb’s suggestion (probably the most concise, and clearest, so far):

let inline (=>) a b = a, box b

let values =
  [ "a" => 1
    "b" => "foo"
    "c" => true ]
  |> dict