Properties Retuning Arrays

[Cool Guy]

Why, when a property returns an array, why doesn't it return a reference to
that array?

e.g.:

public string[] Array
{
get
{
return arr;
}
}

According to MSDN, a copy of the array is returned here. Why is this?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...guidelines.asp

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

Cool Guy <co*****@abc.xyz> wrote:

Why, when a property returns an array, why doesn't it return a reference to
that array?
It does.
e.g.:

public string[] Array
{
get
{
return arr;
}
}

According to MSDN, a copy of the array is returned here. Why is this?

No, that's suggesting that it's a good idea to return a copy of the
array - otherwise the caller can effectively change internal state by
changing the contents of the array.

--
Jon Skeet - <sk***@pobox.com>
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

Cool Guy <co*****@abc.xyz> wrote:

Why, when a property returns an array, why doesn't it return a reference to
that array?
It does.
e.g.:

public string[] Array
{
get
{
return arr;
}
}

According to MSDN, a copy of the array is returned here. Why is this?

No, that's suggesting that it's a good idea to return a copy of the
array - otherwise the caller can effectively change internal state by
changing the contents of the array.

--
Jon Skeet - <sk***@pobox.com>
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

[Cool Guy]

Jon Skeet [C# MVP] wrote:

No, that's suggesting that it's a good idea to return a copy of the
array - otherwise the caller can effectively change internal state by
changing the contents of the array.

Oh, of course. I just ran FxCop for the first time and it ended up
confusing me.

Thanks Jon.

[Cool Guy]

Jon Skeet [C# MVP] wrote:

No, that's suggesting that it's a good idea to return a copy of the
array - otherwise the caller can effectively change internal state by
changing the contents of the array.

Oh, of course. I just ran FxCop for the first time and it ended up
confusing me.

Thanks Jon.