why we can't pass produced value by indexer as ref or out parameter to an method?

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

There are two important restrictions to using indexers. First,because an indexer does
not define a storage location, a value produced by an indexer cannot be passed as a ref or
out parameter to a method. Second, an indexer must be an instance member of its class; it
cannot be declared static.

1. why we can't pass produced value by indexer as ref or out parameter to an method?

2. why indexers can not be static?

Posted 2-Oct-12 19:37pm

AlirezaDehqani

Updated 2-Oct-12 19:41pm

Mehdi Gholam

v2

Add a Solution

1 solution

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

OriginalGriff · Answer 1 · 2012-10-02T20:38:00

Your quote answers your first question pretty exactly:
1) "because an indexer does not define a storage location"

It doesn't produce any storage related value so you can't pint a reference at it. If it doesn't have a value that a reference can point at, it can't be a reference, so it can't be passed as a reference. An Indexer is not a number: it is a process in a stage of execution.

2) Because it is an indexer into a specific instance of the class - if it was static, it would be a global indexer for all instances, and that would be silly - if you have two lists which of them should a global indexer return a value from? What if they have a different number of elements? Indexers have to be related to the specific indexable instance, or they can't work!