In c# 3.0, is it possible to add implicit operators to the string class?

Question

something like

public static class StringHelpers
{
    public static char first(this string p1)
    {
        return p1[0];
    }

    public static implicit operator Int32(this string s) //this doesn't work
    {
        return Int32.Parse(s);
    }
}

so :

string str = "123";
char oneLetter = str.first(); //oneLetter = '1'

int answer = str; // Cannot implicitly convert ...

Answer 1

No, there's no such thing as extension operators (or properties etc) - only extension methods.

The C# team have considered it - there are various interesting things one could do (imagine extension constructors) - but it's not in C# 3.0 or 4.0. See Eric Lippert's blog for more information (as always).

Answer 2

Unfortunately C# does not allow you to add operators to any types that you don't own. Your extension method is about as close as you are going to get.