In .NET, many types provide a static Parse method to convert strings into their respective types. For example: int.Parse("123"); double.Parse("123.45"); DateTime.Parse("2023-01-01"); IPAddress.Parse("192.168.0.1"); However, enums require the use of the Enum.Parse method: Enum.Parse<MyEnum>("Value1"); // MyEnum.Parse("Value1"); // This doesn't work Wouldn't it be more intuitive if enums supported a Parse… [read more]

CultureInfo.InvariantCulture is not invariant for all operations. It is a special culture that is used for formatting and parsing operations that do not depend on any specific culture. For instance, this is well-suited to format values in order to persist them. However, it is not invariant for string comparisons. Comparing strings using InvariantCulture can lead to different results depending on the… [read more]

Renaming a .NET project is tedius. You have to rename the files and folders. You also have to replace the content in the files, such as namespace, or path in .sln files. Here's a PowerShell script that renames files and folders and replaces content in files: $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop" $rootFolder = Resolve-Path -Path "." $oldName = "Sample.Foo" $newName = "Sample.Bar" # Rename files and folders… [read more]

Here's a PowerShell script that removes empty folders recursively: $rootFolder = 'C:\Temp' Get-ChildItem $rootFolder -Recurse -Directory -Force | Sort-Object -Property FullName -Descending | Where-Object { $($_ | Get-ChildItem -Force | Select-Object -First 1).Count -eq 0 } | Remove-Item The logic is following: Get all directories recursively, use -Force to get hidden folders Sort them in descending order… [read more]

There is no self-closing tag in html! This statement seems wrong as you may have seen self-closing tags in html, such as <img src="foo.jpg" /> (with /> at the end). However, this is not a concept in html. Let me explain. While HTML looks similar to a permissive XML, it's not XML. As an example, you don't need to open or close all tags. For instance, you can omit the closing tag for some elements such as… [read more]

PowerShell doesn't provide a built-in way to use a natural sort. However, you can use the Sort-Object cmdlet with a custom script block to achieve a natural sort. In this post, I describe how you can use a natural sort in PowerShell. What is a natural sort? A natural sort is a sorting algorithm that orders strings in a way that is more human-friendly. For example, a natural sort of the following strings:… [read more]

Symbolic link allows to create a link to a file or directory. The symbolic link is a second file that exists independently of its target. If a symbolic link is deleted, its target remains unaffected. If the target is deleted, the symbolic link is not automatically removed. This is different from hard links which always refer to an existing file. Windows allows creation of symbolic links since Windows… [read more]

This post is just me sharing a snippet of code where I'm glad C# has list pattern matching 🙂 You can see how concise the code is! Also, you can see the SplitAny method introduced in .NET 9 in action with the SearchValues<char>. This snippet is a simple version matcher that checks if a version satisfies a constraint. The constraint is a string that can contain multiple constraints separated by , or ;.… [read more]

Stating with C# 9.0, you can use the static modifier on lambda functions. For instance, you can write the following code: enumerable.Select(static x => x * 2); When you use the static modifier on a lambda function, the compilers ensures that there is no capture of variables from the enclosing scope. This allows the compiler to generate better code. Indeed, it can cache the lambda function and reuse it… [read more]

There are multiple ways to iterate on a ConcurrentDictionary<TKey, TValue> in .NET. You can use the foreach loop, or the Keys and Values properties. Both methods provide different results, and you should choose the one that best fits your needs. Using the foreach loop The foreach loop lazily iterates over the key-value pairs in the ConcurrentDictionary. This means that the loop will only fetch the next… [read more]