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c#polymorphismcovariancecontravariancevariance

C# : Is Variance (Covariance / Contravariance) another word for Polymorphism?


I am trying to figure out the exact meaning of the words Covariance and Contravariance from several articles online and questions on StackOverflow, and from what I can understand, it's only another word for polymorphism.

Am I correct with the above statement? Or have I got it wrong ?


Solution

  • It's certainly related to polymorphism. I wouldn't say they're just "another word" for polymorphism though - they're about very specific situations, where you can treat one type as if it were another type in a certain context.

    For instance, with normal polymorphism you can treat any reference to a Banana as a reference to a Fruit - but that doesn't mean you can substitute Fruit every time you see the type Banana. For example, a List<Banana> can't be treated as a List<Fruit> because list.Add(new Apple()) is valid for List<Fruit> but not for List<Banana>.

    Covariance allows a "bigger" (less specific) type to be substituted in an API where the original type is only used in an "output" position (e.g. as a return value). Contravariance allows a "smaller" (more specific) type to be substituted in an API where the original type is only used in an "input" position.

    It's hard to go into all the details in a single SO post (although hopefully someone else will do a better job than this!). Eric Lippert has an excellent series of blog posts about it.