Checking lazy loaded properties have been instantiated
- by PaulG
In a class which has a lazy loaded property, such as:
private Collection<int> someInts;
public Collection<int> SomeInts
{
get
{
if (this.someInts == null) this.someInts = new Collection<int>();
return this.someInts;
}
}
Is it worth also having a property such as:
public bool SomeIntsExist
{
get { return (this.someInts != null && this.someInts.Count > 0); }
}
And then using that property.. eg:
if (thatClass.SomeIntsExist)
{
// do something with thatClass.SomeInts collection
}
or is this premature optimisation. Its certainly easier to roll with something like below, but it will instantiate the collection needlessly:
if (thatClass.SomeInts.Count > 0)
{
// do something with thatClass.SomeInts collection
}
Is the compiler smart enough to figure things like this out? Is there a better way?
