Extension Methods

[Mark Reinhold]

> Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:45:29 -0600
> From: Paul Benedict <pbenedict at apache.org>

> First, thank you and very nice job writing up the proposal. It is a
> great document to read!

Thanks; I'm glad you enjoyed it.

>                         I suppose you could version control it in
> Mercurial; then people can perform hi-tech diffs too.

If this document proves to have staying power then I'll do that.

> With regard to extension methods, I think the "declaration-site"
> extensions are mostly worthless. Interfaces shouldn't be used this way
> since they are suppose to define a contract to implement. I dare to
> say this is an abuse of the interface mechanism.  ...

I do have some sympathy with this position.  At the same time, however,
I'm reluctant to see the classic collection classes consigned to the
limits of the language as it stands today.

As I said in the proposal, I don't see extension methods as a critical
feature for this release.  I'd be content to drop them if they prove
problematic, and consider this issue again in a future release.

- Mark