Why is there no ForEach extension method on IEnumerable?
.net, c#, extension-methods, vb.net
Solution
There is already a `foreach` statement included in the language that does the job most of the time.
I'd hate to see the following:
list.ForEach( item =>
{
item.DoSomething();
} );
Instead of:
foreach(Item item in list)
{
item.DoSomething();
}
The latter is clearer and easier to read in most situations, although maybe a bit longer to type.
However, I must admit I changed my stance on that issue; a `ForEach()` extension method would indeed be useful in some situations.
Here are the major differences between the statement and the method:
- Type checking: foreach is done at runtime, `ForEach()` is at compile time (Big Plus!)
- The syntax to call a delegate is indeed much simpler: objects.ForEach(DoSomething);
- ForEach() could be chained: although evilness/usefulness of such a feature is open to discussion.
Those are all great points made by many people here and I can see why people are missing the function. I wouldn't mind Microsoft adding a standard ForEach method in the next framework iteration.
Problem
Inspired by another question asking about the missing `Zip` function: Why is there no `ForEach` extension method on the `IEnumerable` interface? Or anywhere? The only class that gets a `ForEach` method is `List<>`. Is there a reason why it's missing, maybe performance?