Can I use a collection initializer for Dictionary entries?

Question

I want to use a collection initializer for the next bit of code:

public Dictionary GetNames()
{
    Dictionary names =          


        

Answer 1

The question is tagged c#-3.0, but for completeness I'll mention the new syntax available with C# 6 in case you are using Visual Studio 2015 (or Mono 4.0):

var dictionary = new Dictionary
{
   [1] = "Adam",
   [2] = "Bart",
   [3] = "Charlie"
};

Note: the old syntax mentioned in other answers still works though, if you like that better. Again, for completeness, here is the old syntax:

var dictionary = new Dictionary
{
   { 1, "Adam" },
   { 2, "Bart" },
   { 3, "Charlie" }
};

One other kind of cool thing to note is that with either syntax you can leave the last comma if you like, which makes it easier to copy/paste additional lines. For example, the following compiles just fine:

var dictionary = new Dictionary
{
   [1] = "Adam",
   [2] = "Bart",
   [3] = "Charlie",
};