Why are there variables of interface type, in c#

Question

private ICollection<Resistor_Info> _resistorlist;

“ICollection” Can be a type？

Answer 1

Hi,@兰树豪. Welcome Microsoft Q&A.

Yes, "ICollection" is a type. You could use an interface declaration and instantiate it with a class that implements the interface.

The ICollection<T> interface is the base interface for classes in the System.Collections.Generic namespace.

The ICollection<T> interface extends IEnumerable<T> and is extended by IDictionary<TKey, TValue> and IList<T>.

There are two rules I follow:

Accept the most basic type that will work

Return the richest type your user will need

So when writing a function or method that takes a collection, write it not to take a List, but an IList<T>, an ICollection<T>, or IEnumerable<T>. The generic interfaces will still work even for heterogenous lists because System.Object can be a T too. Doing this will save you headache if you decide to use a Stack or some other data structure further down the road. If all you need to do in the function is foreach through it, IEnumerable<T> is really all you should be asking for.

On the other hand, when returning an object out of a function, you want to give the user the richest possible set of operations without them having to cast around. So in that case, if it's a List<T> internally, return a copy as a List<T>.

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Answer 2

Interfaces are C#'s solution to multiple inheritance, are key to duck typing and the interface design patterns (that is, use interfaces rather than class inheritance). also value types can not inherit, but they can implement interfaces.

as interfaces define a set of methods and properties and are a type, you can define a variable of that type. you can set the variable to any class instance that implements the interface.