Inheriting from List<T>

Question

What is the fastest way to implement a new class that inherits from List<T>?

class Animal {}  class Animals : List<Animal> {} // (1) 

One problem I've encountered: By simply doing (1), I've found that I'm not getting the benefit of inheriting any constructors from List<T>.

In the end, I'd like Animals to behave a lot like a List<T> (e.g., can be constructed, compatibility with Linq). But in addition, I'd also like to be able to add my own custom methods.

Answer 1

If you want to create a publicly exposed animal collection you should not inherit from List<T> and instead inherit from Collection<T> and use the postfix Collection in the class name. Example: AnimalCollection : Collection<Animal>.

This is supported by the framework design guidelines, more specifically:

DO NOT use ArrayList, List<T>, Hashtable, or Dictionary<K,V> in public APIs. Use Collection<T>, ReadOnlyCollection<T>, KeyedCollection<K,T>, or CollectionBase subtypes instead. Note that the generic collections are only supported in the Framework version 2.0 and above.