ForEach Methods Implementation for Multidimensional Array in C#

Question

I am working with System.Array and I found that the input parameter of ForEach method public static void ForEach<T>(T[] array, Action<T> action); is specified on one dimensional array case. I am trying to generalize this to multidimensional array.

The experimental implementation

Here's the experimental implementation of generalized ForEach method.

class ArrayHelpers
{
 public static void ForEach<T>(Array array, in Action<T> action)
 where T : unmanaged
 {
 if (ReferenceEquals(array, null))
 {
 throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(array));
 }
 if (ReferenceEquals(action, null))
 {
 throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(action));
 }
 foreach (T item in array)
 {
 action.Invoke(item);
 }
 return;
 }
}

Test cases

The Test cases for one dimensional case, two dimensional case and three dimensional case are as below.

// One dimensional case
Console.WriteLine("One dimensional case");
int[] test = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 4 };
ArrayHelpers.ForEach<int>(test, ShowSquares);
// two dimensional case
Console.WriteLine("Two dimensional case");
int[,] test2 = { { 0, 1 }, { 2, 3 } };
ArrayHelpers.ForEach<int>(test2, ShowSquares);
// three dimensional case
Console.WriteLine("Three dimensional case");
int[,,] test3 = { { { 0, 1 }, { 2, 3 } }, { { 0, 1 }, { 2, 3 } } };
ArrayHelpers.ForEach<int>(test3, ShowSquares);
/// <summary>
/// Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.array.foreach?view=net-5.0
/// </summary>
/// <param name="val">The input value for displaying and calculating square result</param>
private static void ShowSquares(int val)
{
 Console.WriteLine("{0:d} squared = {1:d}", val, val * val);
}

The output of the above tests:

One dimensional case
1 squared = 1
2 squared = 4
3 squared = 9
4 squared = 16
Two dimensional case
0 squared = 0
1 squared = 1
2 squared = 4
3 squared = 9
Three dimensional case
0 squared = 0
1 squared = 1
2 squared = 4
3 squared = 9
0 squared = 0
1 squared = 1
2 squared = 4
3 squared = 9

I am wondering the things about the potential drawback or risks of this implementation.

All suggestions are welcome.

Answer 1

The solution is fine as it easy as it could be but there's a better way to make the access to it - extension method.

public static class ArrayHelpers
{
 public static void ForEach<T>(this Array array, in Action<T> action)
 {
 if (ReferenceEquals(array, null))
 {
 throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(array));
 }
 if (ReferenceEquals(action, null))
 {
 throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(action));
 }
 foreach (T item in array)
 {
 action.Invoke(item);
 }
 return;
 }
}

Then the test cases can look like this

Console.WriteLine("One dimensional case");
int[] test = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 4 };
test.ForEach<int>(ShowSquares);
Console.WriteLine("Two dimensional case");
int[,] test2 = { { 0, 1 }, { 2, 3 } };
test2.ForEach<int>(ShowSquares);
Console.WriteLine("Three dimensional case");
int[,,] test3 = { { { 0, 1 }, { 2, 3 } }, { { 0, 1 }, { 2, 3 } } };
test3.ForEach<int>(ShowSquares);

• Abbas: Good call on the extensions implementation. I would suggest to rename the class to ArrayExtensions to clearly indicate the fact that is an extensions class.
• aepot: @Abbas agree. But as for me ArrayHelpers, ArrayTools, ArrayUtilities are fine as ArrayExtensions.