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Simplify the usability of your generic methods with type parameter inference

When the parameter signature of a generic method includes a parameter that is of the same type as the type parameter for the method, it's not necessary to specify the type parameter when calling the method. Let's review an example:

    public class Class1
    {
        //both method type argument and parameter are of the same type
        public void SomeGenericMethod<T>(T sameAsTypeParameter)
        {
            ...
        }
    }
 
    public class Test
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            Class1 obj = new Class1();
            //It's not necessary to specify method type parameter
            //Instead of obj.SomeGenericMethod<int>(100) use
            obj.SomeGenericMethod(100);
        }
    }

As you can see in the example above, the syntax for calling generic method is identical to syntax of calling non-generic method. This ability is called generic type inference. To enable inference, the parameter signature of a generic method must include a parameter that is of the same type as the type parameter for the method.

Note: the compiler cannot infer the type based on the type of the returned value alone.

11/20/2007