Implement a lightweight List class that exposes the inner array

Currently if you use List you cannot access the internal/wrapped array, and therefore cannot get a Span on the list items. This in turn means there is a need to support IList method overloads in some cases, e.g.:

SearchUtils.BinarySearch<T,V>(Span span, V value, Func<T,V,int> compareFn) SearchUtils.BinarySearch<T,V>(IList list, V value, Func<T,V,int> compareFn)

and

SortUtils.IsSortedAscending(Span span) SortUtils.IsSortedAscending(IList list)

This is quirky because an Array is both a Span and an IList, and thus the caller has to cast to choose one or the other, and the IList overload simple tests for an array and defers to the Span implementation.

The proposal is to remove the IList overloads o fthe above methods, thus providing only Span based methods for those operations. this will result in a functionality gap for some, but for my own code I intend to define a new List type that exposes its internal array, which can then be accessed (as a span) directly.

For those that are stuck with List and want to use the above methods (and similar), then I simply say that Redzen won't support that. Implementing those methods (e.g. binary search) over an IList is arguably the wrong abstraction layer for high performing code. This is Sort is defined directly on List, as opposed to being an extension method on IList.

colgreen / Redzen

Implement a lightweight List class that exposes the inner array #11