Question

Usually we do something like a for or while loop with a counter:

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
    list.Add(GetRandomItem());
}

but sometimes you mix up with boundaries. You could use a while loop instead, but if you make a mistake this loop is infinite…

In Perl for example I would use the more obvious

for(1..10){
    list->add(getRandomItem());
}

Is there something like doitXtimes(10){...}?

Answer 1

Well you can easily write your own extension method:

public static void Times(this int count, Action action)
{
    for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
    {
        action();
    }
}

Then you can write:

10.Times(() => list.Add(GetRandomItem()));

I’m not sure I’d actually suggest that you do that, but it’s an option. I don’t believe there’s anything like that in the framework, although you can use Enumerable.Range or Enumerable.Repeat to create a lazy sequence of an appropriate length, which can be useful in some situations.

---

As of C# 6, you can still access a static method conveniently without creating an extension method, using a using static directive to import it. For example:

// Normally in a namespace, of course.
public class LoopUtilities
{
    public static void Repeat(int count, Action action)
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
        {
            action();
        }
    }
}

Then when you want to use it:

using static LoopUtilities;

// Class declaration etc, then:
Repeat(5, () => Console.WriteLine("Hello."));