Is there a better alternative than this to 'switch on type'?

Question

Seeing as C# can\'t switch on a Type (which I gather wasn\'t added as a special case because is relationships mean that more than one distinct

Answer 1

I liked Virtlink's use of implicit typing to make the switch much more readable, but I didn't like that an early-out isn't possible, and that we're doing allocations. Let's turn up the perf a little.

public static class TypeSwitch
{
    public static void On(TV value, Action action1)
        where T1 : TV
    {
        if (value is T1) action1((T1)value);
    }

    public static void On(TV value, Action action1, Action action2)
        where T1 : TV where T2 : TV
    {
        if (value is T1) action1((T1)value);
        else if (value is T2) action2((T2)value);
    }

    public static void On(TV value, Action action1, Action action2, Action action3)
        where T1 : TV where T2 : TV where T3 : TV
    {
        if (value is T1) action1((T1)value);
        else if (value is T2) action2((T2)value);
        else if (value is T3) action3((T3)value);
    }

    // ... etc.
}

Well, that makes my fingers hurt. Let's do it in T4:

<#@ template debug="false" hostSpecific="true" language="C#" #>
<#@ output extension=".cs" #>
<#@ Assembly Name="System.Core.dll" #>
<#@ import namespace="System.Linq" #> 
<#@ import namespace="System.IO" #> 
<#
    string GenWarning = "// THIS FILE IS GENERATED FROM " + Path.GetFileName(Host.TemplateFile) + " - ANY HAND EDITS WILL BE LOST!";
    const int MaxCases = 15;
#>
<#=GenWarning#>

using System;

public static class TypeSwitch
{
<# for(int icase = 1; icase <= MaxCases; ++icase) {
    var types = string.Join(", ", Enumerable.Range(1, icase).Select(i => "T" + i));
    var actions = string.Join(", ", Enumerable.Range(1, icase).Select(i => string.Format("Action action{0}", i)));
    var wheres = string.Join(" ", Enumerable.Range(1, icase).Select(i => string.Format("where T{0} : TV", i)));
#>
    <#=GenWarning#>

    public static void On>(TV value, <#=actions#>)
        <#=wheres#>
    {
        if (value is T1) action1((T1)value);
<# for(int i = 2; i <= icase; ++i) { #>
        else if (value is T<#=i#>) action<#=i#>((T<#=i#>)value);
<#}#>
    }

<#}#>
    <#=GenWarning#>
}

Adjusting Virtlink's example a little:

TypeSwitch.On(operand,
    (C x) => name = x.FullName,
    (B x) => name = x.LongName,
    (A x) => name = x.Name,
    (X x) => name = x.ToString(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture),
    (Y x) => name = x.GetIdentifier(),
    (object x) => name = x.ToString());

Readable and fast. Now, as everybody keeps pointing out in their answers, and given the nature of this question, order is important in the type matching. Therefore:

• Put leaf types first, base types later.
• For peer types, put more likely matches first to maximize perf.
• This implies that there is no need for a special default case. Instead, just use the base-most type in the lambda, and put it last.