Equivalent of Math.Min & Math.Max for Dates?

Question

What\'s the quickest and easiest way to get the Min (or Max) value between two dates? Is there an equivalent to Math.Min (& Math.Max) for dates?

I want to do som

Answer 1

There's no built in method to do that. You can use the expression:

(date1 > date2 ? date1 : date2)

to find the maximum of the two.

You can write a generic method to calculate Min or Max for any type (provided that Comparer<T>.Default is set appropriately):

public static T Max<T>(T first, T second) {
    if (Comparer<T>.Default.Compare(first, second) > 0)
        return first;
    return second;
}

You can use LINQ too:

new[]{date1, date2, date3}.Max()

Answer 2

Linq.Min() / Linq.Max() approach:

DateTime date1 = new DateTime(2000,1,1);
DateTime date2 = new DateTime(2001,1,1);

DateTime minresult = new[] { date1,date2 }.Min();
DateTime maxresult = new[] { date1,date2 }.Max(); 

Answer 3

If you want to call it more like Math.Max, you can do something like this very short expression body:

public static DateTime Max(params DateTime[] dates) => dates.Max();
[...]
var lastUpdatedTime = DateMath.Max(feedItemDateTime, assemblyUpdatedDateTime);