What possible value (or danger) might this usage, non-usage, or abusage of System.Runtime.CompilerServices be?

Question

In the legacy spaghetti, I came across this spicy meatball:

//Keep around, might prove useful.
namespace System.Runtime.CompilerServices
{
    public sealed class IsVolatile
    {
        private IsVolatile()
        {
        }
    }
}

Is this possibly of any value? Or perhaps a better question, possibly of any harm (to retain)?

It's an empty shell (no functionality). Why would it be of any use, except as a reminder of the skeletons in the closet? Is it used anywhere? — Robert Harvey, Mar 20 '13 at 17:00
This class has been around in mscorlib since .NET 1.0. If you are not reimplementing mscorlib for a specialized application, then I believe you can safely remove that declaration. — Sam Harwell, Mar 20 '13 at 17:12
@George: no, that's all there is to it; as mentioned, an "empty shell" — B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven, Mar 20 '13 at 17:16
@Robert: I commented it out, and it compiles, so apparently it's just a relict of prior daydreams. — B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven, Mar 20 '13 at 17:17

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 20 '13 at 17:05

1

Hah - looks like you've got a situation similar to the "I want LINQ syntax, but I'm in 2.0 land", where you could "turn on" LINQ syntax via:

namespace System.Runtime.CompilerServices
{
    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Method, AllowMultiple = false, Inherited = false)]
    public class ExtensionAttribute : Attribute
    {
    }
}

Only here, you're enabling use of the volatile keyword.

answered Mar 20 '13 at 17:05

JerKimball

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There's a comment below it: // use: public volatile bool test; // ^ // |-- volatile allow OS to interpret value. – B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven Mar 20 '13 at 17:18
That's sure to be *really* old code...I think `volatile` has been supported by VS as far back as...what, VS2005? – JerKimball Mar 20 '13 at 17:24
Oh, and it's purely for the compiler, if that needed to be said - you won't find any actual *code* referencing that class. – JerKimball Mar 20 '13 at 17:24

What possible value (or danger) might this usage, non-usage, or abusage of System.Runtime.CompilerServices be?

1 Answers1