Why we cant return List<T> in ASMX web services?

Question

As developers know we cant return List<T> with web services, we can only return lists with converting them to .ToArray(); I've searched some, but cant get effective answer about Why we cant retun List with web services. Why we must convert them ToArray(); ?

Answer 1

Web services are supposed to be interoperable with many languages. Nearly all languages have arrays, but only .NET has the specific implementation of List<T> that you're using.