C# 0 The Complete Reference

PART II

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C o l l e c t i o n s ,   E n u m e r a t o r s ,   a n d   I t e r a t o r s    

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is called 

Dictionary

. Also, the specific contents of the various interfaces and classes contain 

minor reorganizations, with some functionality shifting from one interface to another, for 

example. However, overall, if you understand the non-generic collections, then you can easily 

use the generic collections.

In general, the generic collections work in the same way as the non-generic collections 

with the exception that a generic collection is type-safe. Thus, a generic collection can store 

only items that are compatible with its type argument. Therefore, if you want a collection 

that is capable of storing unrelated, mixed types, you should use one of the non-generic 

classes. However, for all cases in which a collection is storing only one type of object, then 

a generic collection is now your best choice.

The generic collections are defined by a set of interfaces and the classes that implement 

those interfaces. Each is described by the following sections.