IArgumentProvider Interface
Definition
Important
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Provides an internal interface for accessing the arguments of multiple tree nodes (DynamicExpression, ElementInit, MethodCallExpression, InvocationExpression, NewExpression, and IndexExpression). This API is for internal use only.
public interface class IArgumentProviderpublic interface IArgumentProvidertype IArgumentProvider = interfacePublic Interface IArgumentProvider- Derived
Remarks
You should not use this API. It is public only due to assembly refactoring, and it exists only for internal performance optimizations. It enables two optimizations that reduce the size of the trees:
It enables the nodes to hold onto an IList<T> instead of a ReadOnlyCollection<T>. This saves the cost of allocating the read-only collection for each node.
It enables specialized subclasses to be created that hold on to a specific number of arguments (for example,
Block2,Block2,Block4). Therefore, these nodes avoid allocating both a ReadOnlyCollection<T> and an array for storing their elements, thus saving 32 bytes per node. This technique is used by various nodes, including BlockExpression, InvocationExpression, and MethodCallExpression.
The expression tree nodes continue to expose the original LINQ properties of ReadOnlyCollection<T> objects. They do this by reusing a field for storing both the array or an element that would normally be stored in the array.
For the array case, the collection is typed to IList<T> instead of ReadOnlyCollection<T>. When the node is initially constructed, it is an array. The compiler or utilities in this library access the elements through this interface. Accessing array elements promotes the array to a ReadOnlyCollection<T>.
For the object case, the first argument is stored in a field typed to Object. When the node is initially constructed, this field holds the Expression of the first argument. When the compiler and utilities in this library access the arguments, they again use this interface, and the accessor for the first argument uses the internal Expression.ReturnObject<T>(System.Object) helper method to return the object that handles the Expression or ReadOnlyCollection<T> case. When the user accesses the ReadOnlyCollection<T>, the object field is updated to hold directly onto the ReadOnlyCollection<T>.
It is important that Expression properties consistently return the same ReadOnlyCollection<T>. Otherwise, the rewriter tree walker used by expression visitors will break. It is a breaking change from LINQ v1 to return different ReadOnlyCollection<T> from the same Expression node. Currently, users can rely on object identity to tell if the node has changed. Storing the ReadOnlyCollection<T> in an overloaded field both reduces memory usage and maintains compatibility for the public API.
Properties
| ArgumentCount |
Returns the number of arguments to the expression tree node. This API is for internal use only. |
Methods
| GetArgument(Int32) |
Returns the argument at |
