Why Tuple's items are ReadOnly?
Solution 1:
Tuples originated in functional programming. In (purely) functional programming, everything is immutable by design - a certain variable only has a single definition at all times, as in mathematics. The .NET designers wisely followed the same principle when integrating the functional style into C#/.NET, despite it ultimately being a primarily imperative (hybrid?) language.
Note: Though I suspect the fact that tuples are immutable doesn't really make your task much harder, there are also anonymous types (or perhaps just a simple struct) you might want to use.
Solution 2:
I wonder why there is not such thing like this. However, it is what I prefer to use.
namespace System
{
/// <summary>
/// Helper so we can call some tuple methods recursively without knowing the underlying types.
/// </summary>
internal interface IWTuple
{
string ToString(StringBuilder sb);
int GetHashCode(IEqualityComparer comparer);
int Size { get; }
}
/// <summary>
/// Represents a writable 2-tuple, or pair.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T1">The type of the tuple's first component.</typeparam>
/// <typeparam name="T2">The type of the tuple's second component.</typeparam>
public class WTuple<T1, T2> : IStructuralEquatable, IStructuralComparable, IComparable, IWTuple
{
private T1 _item1;
private T2 _item2;
#region ImplementedInterfaces
Int32 IStructuralEquatable.GetHashCode(IEqualityComparer comparer)
{
return comparer.GetHashCode(_item1);
}
Boolean IStructuralEquatable.Equals(Object other, IEqualityComparer comparer) {
if (other == null) return false;
WTuple<T1, T2> objTuple = other as WTuple<T1, T2>;//Tuple<t1, t2=""> objTuple = other as Tuple<t1, t2="">;
if (objTuple == null) {
return false;
}
return comparer.Equals(_item1, objTuple._item1) && comparer.Equals(_item2, objTuple._item2);
}
Int32 IStructuralComparable.CompareTo(Object other, IComparer comparer)
{
if (other == null) return 1;
WTuple<T1, T2> objTuple = other as WTuple<T1, T2>;//Tuple<t1, t2=""> objTuple = other as Tuple<t1, t2="">;
if (objTuple == null)
{
throw new ArgumentException("ArgumentException_TupleIncorrectType", "other");//ArgumentException(Environment.GetResourceString("ArgumentException_TupleIncorrectType", this.GetType().ToString()), "other");
}
int c = 0;
c = comparer.Compare(_item1, objTuple._item1);
if (c != 0) return c;
return comparer.Compare(_item2, objTuple._item2);
}
Int32 IComparable.CompareTo(Object obj)
{
return ((IStructuralComparable)this).CompareTo(obj, Comparer<object>.Default);
}
Int32 IWTuple.GetHashCode(IEqualityComparer comparer)
{
return ((IStructuralEquatable)this).GetHashCode(comparer);
}
string IWTuple.ToString(StringBuilder sb)
{
sb.Append(_item1);
sb.Append(", ");
sb.Append(_item2);
sb.Append(")");
return sb.ToString();
}
int IWTuple.Size
{
get { return 2; }
}
#endregion
#region WTuple
/// <summary>
/// Initializes a new instance of the System.WTuple<T1,T2> class.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="item1">The value of the tuple's first component.</param>
/// <param name="item2">The value of the tuple's second component.</param>
public WTuple(T1 item1, T2 item2)
{
_item1 = item1;
_item2 = item2;
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets the value of the current System.WTuple<T1,T2> object's first component.
/// </summary>
public T1 Item1
{
get { return _item1; }
set { _item1 = value; }
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets the value of the current System.WTuple<T1,T2> object's second component.
/// </summary>
public T2 Item2
{
get { return _item2; }
set { _item2 = value; }
}
/// <summary>
/// Returns a value that indicates whether the current System.WTuple<T1,T2> object
/// is equal to a specified object.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="obj">The object to compare with this instance.</param>
/// <returns>true if the current instance is equal to the specified object; otherwise,
/// false.</returns>
public override Boolean Equals(Object obj)
{
return ((IStructuralEquatable)this).Equals(obj, EqualityComparer<object>.Default);
}
/// <summary>
/// Returns the hash code for the current System.WTuple<T1,T2> object.
/// </summary>
/// <returns>A 32-bit signed integer hash code.</returns>
public override int GetHashCode()
{
return ((IStructuralEquatable)this).GetHashCode(EqualityComparer<object>.Default);
}
/// <summary>
/// Returns a string that represents the value of this System.WTuple<T1,T2> instance.
/// </summary>
/// <returns>The string representation of this System.WTuple<T1,T2> object.</returns>
public override string ToString()
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.Append("(");
return ((IWTuple)this).ToString(sb);
}
#endregion
}
}