C# initializing List Collection

Question

I have always initialized a collection as such:-

List<Type> name = new List<Type>();

But today I saw something like this:-

var variablename = new sMonth{
    x = foo;
    name = new List<Type>()
};

Is that even possible? and what is the difference between the two ways?

Steve · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-13 05:49:15Z

2

Yes, your second snippet is an example of object initialization.

Assuming your sMonth object contains a property of type List<Type>, you can initialize the object at the point you create the outer object:

var variablename = new sMonth{
    x = foo,
    name = new List<Type>()
};

Note the comma between items.

Additionally, since you're not assigning anything to name you could use the sMonth constructor to initialize the collection for you:

public sMonth()
{
    name = new List<Type>();
}

answered Mar 13, 2016 at 5:49

Steve

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3 Comments

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense now.

Could I request you to look at a different piece of code and get your opinion ?

@Philo if it's related to this question, just edit your original question. Otherwise, best to open a new question and ask there.