Modifying parameter values before sending to Base constructor

Question

The title may be a bit ambiguous, but I couldn\'t think of a better way to word this.

I realize that I can not call a derived constructor prior to calling a base con

Answer 1

One hack to put arbitrary logic in base() clause without introducing a separate static method is to use a lambda or anonymous delegate. The expression inside base() is in scope of all constructor parameters, so you can freely use them inside the lambda. E.g. (let's say this is C# 2.0, so there's no LINQ to write a single-liner for the same thing):

class Base
{
    public Base(int[] xs) {}
}

class Derived : Base
{
    public Derived(int first, int last)
        : base(
            ((Func)delegate
            {
                List xs = new List();
                for (int x = first; x < last; ++x)
                {
                    xs.Add(x);
                }
                return xs.ToArray();
            })())
    {
    }
}

However, I would strongly advise against using this in practice, because from readability point of view this is really horrible. With a static method you'll need to explicitly pass constructor arguments to it, but it's not like you normally have more than 3-4 of those.