C# / .NET equivalent for Java Collections.emptyList()?

Question

What\'s the standard way to get a typed, readonly empty list in C#, or is there one?

ETA: For those asking \"why?\": I have a virtual method that re

Answer 1

To expand on Dan Tao's answer, the following implementation can be used in the same way as Enumerable.Empty(), by specifying List.Empty() instead.

public static class List
{
    public static IList Empty()
    {
        // Note that the static type is only instantiated when
        // it is needed, and only then is the T[0] object created, once.
        return EmptyArray.Instance;
    }

    private sealed class EmptyArray
    {
        public static readonly T[] Instance = new T[0];
    }
}

Edit: I change the above code to reflect the outcome of a discussion with Dan Tao about lazy versus eager initialization of the Instance field.