.NET 4.0 Generics Beginner's Guide

Enhance the type safety of your code and easily create applications using .Net Generics 4.0

• Learn how to use Generics' methods and generic collections to solve complicated problems.
• Develop real-world applications using Generics
• Know the importance of each generic collection and Generic class and use them as per your requirements
• Benchmark the performance of all Generic collections

In Detail

Generics were added as part of .NET Framework 2.0 in November 2005. Although similar to generics in Java, .NET generics do not apply type erasure but every object has unique representation at run-time. There is no performance hit from runtime casts and boxing conversions, which are normally expensive..NET offers type-safe versions of every classical data structure and some hybrid ones.

This book will show you everything you need to start writing type-safe applications using generic data structures available in Generics API. You will also see how you can use several collections for each task you perform. This book is full of practical examples, interesting applications, and comparisons between Generics and more traditional approaches. Finally, each container is bench marked on the basis of performance for a given task, so you know which one to use and when.

This book first covers the fundamental concepts such as type safety, Generic Methods, and Generic Containers. As the book progresses, you will learn how to join several generic containers to achieve your goals and query them efficiently using Linq. There are short exercises in every chapter to boost your knowledge.

The book also teaches you some best practices, and several patterns that are commonly available in generic code.

Some important generic algorithm definitions are present in Power Collection (an API created by Wintellect Inc.) that are missing from .NET framework. This book shows you how to use such algorithms seamlessly with other generic containers.

The book also discusses C5 collections. Java Programmers will find themselves at home with this API. This is the closest to JCF. Some very interesting problems are solved using generic containers from .NET framework, C5, and PowerCollection Algorithms - a clone of Google Set and Gender Genie for example!

What you will learn from this book

• How different kinds of generic listsare related
• How to implement your own generic list
• Query every kind of generic container alike with Linq Standard Query Operators
• Augment .NET collections with general purpose algorithms available in C5 and PowerCollection
• Build concurrent apps in breathing easy steps.
• Find those algorithms you have been missing in .NET framework in PowerCollection and C5 API.
• Learn how different generic collections/containers perform under benchmarking, and when to use one over another
• Port your STL code blocks to .NET Generics which can be very handy if you are a veteran C++ developer and looking for an alternative in .NET world.

Approach

This is a concise, practical guide that will help you learn Generics in .NET, with lots of real world and fun-to-build examples and clear explanations. It is packed with screenshots to aid your understanding of the process.

Who this book is written for

This book is aimed at beginners in Generics. It assumes some working knowledge of C# , but it isn't mandatory.

The following would get the most use out of the book:

• Newbie C# developers struggling with Generics.
• Experienced C++ and Java Programmers who are migrating to C# and looking for an alternative to other generic frameworks like STL and JCF would find this book handy.
• Managers who want to know what Generics is and how to put it to good use.
• Architects will find the benchmarking extremely useful, because it's the first of its kind across a framework of several collections.

Sudipta Mukherjee

Sudipta was born in Kolkata and migrated to Bangalore, IT capital of india to assume the position of a senior research engineer in a renowned research lab. He is an Electronics engineer by education and a computer engineer/scientist by profession and passion. He graduated in 2004 with a degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering. He has been working with .NET Generics since they first appeared in .NET Framework 2.0

He has keen interest in Data structure, Algorithms, Text processing, Natural Language Processing ,Programming Language, Tools Development and Game Development.

His first book on data structure using C programming language has been recevied quite well. Parts of the book can be read on Google Books goo.gl/pttSh

The book also got translated to Simplified Chinese available from Amazon.cn at goo.gl/lc536

Sudipta is an active blogger and open source enthusiast. He mainly blogs about programming and related concepts at sudipta.posterous.com Inspired by several string processing methods in other languages, he created an Open Source string processing framework for .NET available for free use from stringdefs.codeplex.com

He lives in Bangalore with his wife. He can be reached via email to sudipto80@yahoo.com and via twitter @samthecoder