Best way to refer to my own type

Question

abstract class A where T:A
{
    public event Action Event1;
}

class B : A
{
    //has a field called Action Event1;
}
         


        

Answer 1

The pattern you are using does not actually implement the constraint you want. Suppose you want to model "an animal can only be friendly with something of its own kind":

abstract class Animal where T : Animal
{
    public abstract void GetFriendly(T t);
}

class Cat : Animal
{
    public override void GetFriendly(Cat cat) {}
}

Have we succeeded in implementing the desired constraint? No.

class EvilDog : Animal
{
    public override void GetFriendly(Cat cat) {}
}

Now an evil dog can be friendly with any Cat, and not friendly with other evil dogs.

The type constraint you want is not possible in the C# type system. Try Haskell if you need this sort of constraint enforced by the type system.

See my article on this subject for more details:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2011/02/03/curiouser-and-curiouser.aspx