How to impose a class to only accept certain data types

Question

I am wondering how to apply a specific filter to a class declaration in order to only accept certain data types.

Say I want the following two classes:

// Here, T can only be an array type. ie. int[], uint[], byte[], etc.
public class myClassArray<T> where T is Array
{

}

// Here, T can only be an integral numeric type. ie. int, uint, byte, etc.
public class myClassNotArray<T> where T is NotAnArray
{

}

In both cases I still want to be able to do basic arithmetic.

I have tried a bunch of things, but everything failed pretty badly. I think it is because I do not really understand what characterises a specific data type and how to find out what does.

For instance and Array seems to implement:

 "ICloneable, System.Collections.IList, System.Collections.IStructuralComparable, System.Collections.IStructuralEquatable"

but somehow, doing something of the sort still does not allow me to do arithmetic:

public class myClassArray<T> where T : ICloneable, System.Collections.IList, System.Collections.IStructuralComparable, System.Collections.IStructuralEquatable
{
   public voidDoSomeStuff(T value1, T value2)
   {
        // I would like this to work:
        for (int idx = 0; idx < value1.Count(); idx++)
        {
            var result = value1[idx] - value2[idx];
            .....                
        }
    }
}

why would the fact that Array implements these interfaces mean that you can apply arithmetic operations to a type which does? — Matt Evans, May 29 '20 at 12:57
@JohnathanBarclay, thanks for the pointer, let me go through it — stackMeUp, May 29 '20 at 13:02
@Matt Evans, nothing I suppose, but I thought that it T implements all these interfaces, it becomes by definition an array type? — stackMeUp, May 29 '20 at 13:03
@JohnathanBarclay, you link did not really solve my problem. — stackMeUp, May 29 '20 at 15:30

How to impose a class to only accept certain data types

0 Answers0