C# 0 The Complete Reference

Gen

, then all 

Gen

 objects will 

use the same executable code. Thus, code-bloat is reduced and only those versions of the 

class that are actually used in the program will be created. When a different constructed 

type is needed, a new version of the class is compiled.

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In general, a new executable version of a generic class is created for each constructed 

type in which the type argument is a value type, such as 

int

 or 

double

. Thus, each object of 

Gen

 will use one version of 

Gen

 and each object of type 

Gen

will use another 

version of 

Gen

, with each version of 

Gen

 tailored to the specific value type. However, there 

will be 

only one version

 of a generic class that handles all cases in which the type argument is a 

reference type. This is because the size (in bytes) of all references is the same. Thus, only one 

version is needed to handle all types of references. This optimization also reduces code-bloat.