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POImplementing a "LazyProperty" class - is this a good idea?
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  1. POImplementing a "LazyProperty" class - is this a good idea?
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    copied!<p>I often find myself writing a property that is evaluated lazily. Something like:</p> <pre><code>if (backingField == null) backingField = SomeOperation(); return backingField; </code></pre> <p>It is not much code, but it does get repeated a lot if you have a lot of properties.</p> <p>I am thinking about defining a class called LazyProperty:</p> <pre><code>public class LazyProperty&lt;T&gt; { private readonly Func&lt;T&gt; getter; public LazyProperty(Func&lt;T&gt; getter) { this.getter = getter; } private bool loaded = false; private T propertyValue; public T Value { get { if (!loaded) { propertyValue = getter(); loaded = true; } return propertyValue; } } public static implicit operator T(LazyProperty&lt;T&gt; rhs) { return rhs.Value; } } </code></pre> <p>This would enable me to initialize a field like this:</p> <pre><code>first = new LazyProperty&lt;HeavyObject&gt;(() =&gt; new HeavyObject { MyProperty = Value }); </code></pre> <p>And then the body of the property could be reduced to:</p> <pre><code>public HeavyObject First { get { return first; } } </code></pre> <p>This would be used by most of the company, since it would go into a common class library shared by most of our products.</p> <p>I cannot decide whether this is a good idea or not. I think the solutions has some pros, like: </p> <ul><li>Less code</li> <li>Prettier code</li> </ul> <p>On the downside, it would be harder to look at the code and determine exactly what happens - especially if a developer is not familiar with the LazyProperty class. </p> <p>What do you think ? Is this a good idea or should I abandon it ? Also, is the implicit operator a good idea, or would you prefer to use the Value property explicitly if you should be using this class ? </p> <p>Opinions and suggestions are welcomed :-)</p>
 

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