In C#, why can't a List object be stored in a List<object> variable

Question

It seems that a List object cannot be stored in a List variable in C#, and can\'t even be explicitly cast that way.

List sl = new List

        

Answer 1

You cannot cast between generic types with different type parameters. Specialized generic types don't form part of the same inheritance tree and so are unrelated types.

To do this pre-NET 3.5:

List sl = new List();
// Add strings to sl

List