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• C#
• C# 4.0
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• Covariance and Contravariance
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• VBScript

• Why is covariance of value-typed arrays inconsistent?

  Another interesting question from StackOverflow : uint[] foo = new uint[10]; object bar = foo; Console.WriteLine("{0} {1} {2} {3}", foo is uint[], // True foo is int[], // False bar is uint[], // True bar is int[]); // True What the heck is going on here? Read More... Posted Thursday, September 24, 2009 6:53 AM by Eric Lippert | 21 Comments Filed under: C#, Covariance and Contravariance, Arrays

• Arrays of arrays

  Most people understand that there’s a difference between a “rectangular” and a “ragged” two-dimensional array. int[,] rectangle = { {10, 20}, {30, 40}, {50, 60} }; int[][] ragged = { new[] {10}, new[] {20, 30}, new[] {40, 50, 60} }; Here we have a two-dimensional Read More... Posted Monday, August 17, 2009 7:25 AM by Eric Lippert | 47 Comments Filed under: C#, Language Design, Arrays

• Arrays considered somewhat harmful

  I got a moral question from an author of programming language textbooks the other day requesting my opinions on whether or not beginner programmers should be taught how to use arrays. Rather than actually answer that question, I gave him a long list of Read More... Posted Monday, September 22, 2008 11:04 AM by Eric Lippert | 58 Comments Filed under: Performance, Rants, C#, Code Quality, Threading, Software development methodology, Immutability, Arrays

• Covariance and Contravariance in C#, Part Two: Array Covariance

  C# implements variance in two ways. Today, the broken way. Ever since C# 1.0, arrays where the element type is a reference type are covariant . This is perfectly legal: Animal[] animals = new Giraffe[10]; Since Giraffe is smaller than Animal , and “make Read More... Posted Wednesday, October 17, 2007 8:47 AM by Eric Lippert | 19 Comments Filed under: C#, Covariance and Contravariance, C# 4.0, Arrays

• Running Me Ragged

  A reader asked "Why are there two types of multidimentional arrays? What is the difference between the (x)(y) and (x,y) notation?" Good question. There are two kinds of multidimensional arrays, called "rectangular" and "ragged". Read More... Posted Monday, September 22, 2003 9:34 PM by Eric Lippert | 5 Comments Filed under: JScript, VBScript, Scripting, Arrays

• JScript and VBScript Arrays

  Earlier I alluded to the fact that JScript arrays are objects but VBScript arrays are not. What's up with that? Read More... Posted Monday, September 22, 2003 1:55 PM by Eric Lippert | 17 Comments Filed under: JScript, VBScript, Scripting, Arrays