Once upon a time, I had this in C++:

template <typename T>
class Array2D
{
    // ...
    T& get(const int x, const int y)
    {
        return m_array[y * m_width + x];
    }
}

I was using a 2D array to have a type of DLinkedList. Each cell in a map would have a linked list.

Well, now I'm trying to covert that into C#.

        public T Get(int x, int y)
        {
            return m_array[y * m_width + x];
        }

The problem is it's not returning a reference as previous done in C++, but rather a value.

So, I can't do something like this...

            map = new Array2D<List<int>>(10, 10);

            for (int y = 0; y < map.Height; y++)
            {
                for (int x = 0; x < map.Width; x++)
                {
                    map.Get(x, y).Add(0);
                }
            }

Even if I use the Set() method, adding 0 to the end of the list is trying to set an integer value of type List. So that doesn't work.

I tried using unsafe code with pointers, but the compiler yelled at me for trying it on a managed type of T.

Overloading [,] is not available.

I feel I'm missing something very obvious to do, but I can't grasp it. Any thoughts? Thank you.

In C# this depends on whether or not T (the tempate/generic type) is a struct/value type or a class/reference type. For example, int, float and Point are value types which are never returned by reference while other types declared with the class keyword will always be returned by reference. There is no way to return a value type (struct) as a reference in C#. It's by design.

Edit: I didn't read this through. Your example should work since List<T> is a generic reference type. 0 should be added to the list at coords (x, y). If not, please share your exceptions and/or compiler errors.

Edit2: Also, why isn't overloading of [,] available? Not that it'd make a difference since it would behave exactly like that Get method, but you can do it.

public T this[int x, int y] {
   get
   {
      return m_array[y * m_width + x];
   }
}

?

Edit3: (yes I'm drunk) You did initialize those lists right?

Set(x, y, new List<int>()?);

...

public void Set(int x, int y, T val)
{
   n_array[y * m_width + x] = val;
}

No exceptions. Maybe I'm drunk and didn't know it. It must be another bug then.

using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace AutoGrid
{
    public class SparseListGrid<T>
    {
        List<T>[,] data;

        public SparseListGrid(int width, int height)
        {
            data = new List<T>[width, height];
        }

        public List<T> this[int x, int y]
        {
            get
            {
                var list = data[x,y];

                if (list == null)
                    data[x,y] = list = new List<T>();

                return list;
            }
        }
    }

    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var grid = new SparseListGrid<int>(20, 20);

            grid[10,10].Add(100);
            grid[10,10].Add(150);
        }
    }
}

using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace AutoGrid
{
    public class AutoGrid<T> where T : new()
    {
        T[,] data;

        public AutoGrid(int width, int height)
        {
            data = new T[width, height];
        }

        public T this[int x, int y]
        {
            get
            {
                var element = data[x,y];

                if (element == null) // NOTE: this line is always false for value types.
                    data[x,y] = element = new T();

                return element;
            }

            set
            {
                data[x,y] = value;
            }
        }
    }

    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var grid = new AutoGrid<List<int>>(20, 20);

            grid[10,10].Add(100);
            grid[10,10].Add(150);
        }
    }
}

Edit: Hmm... gotta think.

Well, the problem is the linked list is null on each element. I figured Add() allocates a node like my old code did.

First for loop set does add to the list now. 0 is added for map(0,0) with a count of 1.

The second reads the node at map(0,0) but it is null, which is confusing to me.

           map = new Array2D<List<int>>(10, 10);

            // set grid with 1 node of value 0.
            for (int y = 0; y < map.Height; y++)
            {
                for (int x = 0; x < map.Width; x++)
                {
                    var val = map.Get(x, y);
                    val = new List<int>();

                    val.Add(0);
                }
            }

            // read the nodes
            for (int y = 0; y < map.Height; y++)
            {
                for (int x = 0; x < map.Width; x++)
                {
                    var lst = map.Get(x, y);

                    foreach (int i in lst)
                    {
                        wl(i.ToString(), Color.White);
                    }
                }
            }

Hmm,

Array2D is a class.

List is a class.

I wonder if it's List<int> then, since int is not a reference type.

I'm assuming it will work fine then with class types then: List<Cell> etc.

Array2D<List<Cell>> does the same thing.. I'm going insane.

     Array2D<List<Cell>> map;
            map = new Array2D<List<Cell>>(10, 10);

            // set grid with 1 node of value 0.
            for (int y = 0; y < map.Height; y++)
            {
                for (int x = 0; x < map.Width; x++)
                {
                    var val = map.Get(x, y);
                    val = new List<Cell>();
                    // yay, it adds
                    val.Add(new Cell(0));
                }
            }

            // read the nodes
            for (int y = 0; y < map.Height; y++)
            {
                for (int x = 0; x < map.Width; x++)
                {
                    var lst = map.Get(x, y); // null list

                    foreach (Cell c in lst)
                    {
                        wl(c.type.ToString(), Color.White);
                    }
                }
            }

After adding Cell(0), the map object remains to have index 0 null. It feels like it's still acting the same even though they are all classes this time.

Okay, that worked.

What's new is I added this with the new restricter:

  class Array2D<T> where T : new()

I modified the Get() method:

        public T Get(int x, int y)
        {
            var val = m_array[y * m_width + x];

            if (val == null)
                m_array[y * m_width + x] = val = new T();

            return val;
        }

Then I added a new cell as such:

 map.Get(x, y).Add(new Cell(0));

Thanks for the help.