is there such thing as a user defined function that accepts type identifiers?

methods that have parameters can be called by passing a variable identifier or an expression as an argument.

and then there are built-in 'methods' such as typeof(<type identifier>) which returns a System.Type object, and default(<type identifier>) which returns a null reference for reference types or the default instance of a value type; and what's interesting about them is that unlike traditional methods they aren't called by passing a variable identifier or expression but by passing a type identifier.

is it possible in C# to create 'methods' that work in a similar manner?

I think you're looking for generic methods. You can read about them here: Generic Methods.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by itsme86

I think you're looking for generic methods. You can read about them here: Generic Methods.

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well it's true that when you call a generic method you need to pass a type argument (at least in cases where the compiler cannot infer the type parameters from the method arguments) but a generic method is not what I have in mind, since, ultimately, inside the generic method, just like in any other method, you still get to work with a variable identifier that represents a variable of *some type*, as opposed to the actual type identifier that represents the type itself.

Well what exactly are you trying to do? Maybe reflection can help you. It's hard to tell with your abstract question what can help you reach your mystery goal.

I'm trying to do something along the following lines without having to manually type the type identifiers:

Code:

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Console.WriteLine(typeof(ushort) + ", bits: " + sizeof(ushort) * 8);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(int) + ", bits: " + sizeof(int) * 8);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(uint) + ", bits: " + sizeof(uint) * 8);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(long) + ", bits: " + sizeof(long) * 8);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(ulong) + ", bits: " + sizeof(ulong) * 8);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(float) + ", bits: " + sizeof(float) * 8);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(double) + ", bits: " + sizeof(double) * 8);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(decimal) + ", bits: " + sizeof(decimal) * 8);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(IntPtr) + ", bits: " + sizeof(IntPtr) * 8);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(UIntPtr) + ", bits: " + sizeof(UIntPtr) * 8);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(DateTime) + ", bits: " + sizeof(DateTime) * 8);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(ConsoleColor) + ", bits: " + sizeof(ConsoleColor) * 8);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(TimeSpan) + ", bits: " + sizeof(TimeSpan) * 8);

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true, instead of relying on the typeof operator I can use the GetType() method, but I'm still left with no known way of calling the sizeof operator.

I know that I could, for example, create an instance of the System.Reflection.Assembly class (by assigned a reference to an instance of a derived type of course) and call the GetTypes() method on it, select desired types (ie: value types) then loop through the System.Type[] array object and print relevant info. However, I'm still unsure there is a proper substitute for the sizeof operator, which in addition to working only in an unsafe context, it works only with some value types (ie: enums, built-in value types, user-defined structs as long as they do not have fields of managed types.)

A nice alternative would be to define a generic method that infers the type parameter based on the method argument (ie: Print<T>(T t){..}) which can then be called with only method argument and no type argument, but the sizeof operator sort of messes things up because it doesn't work with all types. adding a generic constraint to the Print<T> method seems like it should work but even "where T : struct" will cause problems because the sizeof operator will not work with all value types.

Who knows, maybe System.Reflection offers a runtime alternative to the sizeof operator.

Any thoughts?

System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.SizeOf