Collection Initializers in C#

Question

In Java, I can create an List and immediately populate it using a static initializer. Something like this:

List <String> list = new ArrayList<String>()
{{
    Add("a");
    Add("b");
    Add("c");
}}

Which is convenient, because I can create the list on the fly, and pass it as an argument into a function. Something like this:

printList(new ArrayList<String>()
{{
    Add("a");
    Add("b");
    Add("c");
}});

I am new to C# and trying to figure out how to do this, but am coming up empty. Is this possible in C#? And if so, how can it be done?

Answer 1

You can use a collection initializer:

new List<string> { "a", "b", "c" }

This compiles to a sequence of calls to the Add method.
If the Add method takes multiple arguments (eg, a dictionary), you'll need to wrap each call in a separate pair of braces:

new Dictionary<string, Exception> {
    { "a", new InvalidProgramException() },
    { "b", null },
    { "c", new BadImageFormatException() }
}