partial methods for partial developers

The evolution of C# has all but stopped. One addition with .NET 2.0 was partial classes. Probably meant to ease the usage of code generators (keeping generated code separate from hand written code) the common developer is not limited to “consuming” it, he may also actively employ it. E.g. it might serve a puprose to separate production code from debug code. With .NET 3.5 there already was much talk about the language additions around LINQ, such as … well, just have a look at The LINQ Project or ScottGu’s Blog. And of course, these features are meant to be actively employed by the common developer.

Now we have a relatively new addition: Partial methods. (In case you haven’t hread, see In Case You Haven’t Heard, see Partial Methods for the VB.NET camp). With this addition I’m not so sure it’s meant for me… .

For the record: A partial method is a method declared in a partial class (hence the name). It may or may not be implemented in the same class (usually in another file). If it is implemented, the compiler will emit usual code. If it is not implemented, the compiler will emit nothing, not even metadata about that method. And will will also wipe out any calls to the method.

Ergo: Partial methods are purely a compiler feature. You need the code of the declaring class and it has to be prepared with declarations to support partial method implementation.

The usual (probably the only relevant) use case for partial methods is light weight event handling in combination with code generation. Say, you parse a database or an XML file and generate data classes. Tens of classes, hundreds of properties, all fairly generic, boilerplate stuff. And also fairly common is the need to interfere with this method for validation or that property setter to update another one. So instead of manipulating the generated code or having hundreds of events and thousands of method calls during runtime (of which in most cases only a tiny fraction will actually do something) partial methods kick in. They are easier to declare and use than events (pay for what you need) and if not used they simply vanish (pay as you go).

Any other relevant use case? None that I am aware of. In other words we have a language feature that is very efficient for a very limited number of use cases.

For whom are partial methods made?

Implementors of code generators are the ones to employ partial methods. Today this means Microsoft and LINQ related stuff, tomorrow Microsoft may decide to use partial methods in other event laden environments, such as ASP.NET and WinForms. In these cases the common developer only consumes partial methods. Let me re-phrase this: The common developer has to consume partial methods. Why? With partial methods the code generator will certainly not generate any other means of extension, such as events or virtual methods. The very purpose of partial methods is to do away with these heavy weight means, right?

The pro: If you follow the designer driven, RAD style, code based development style that ASP.NET or WinForms used for quite some time, the designer will eventually handle partial methods transparently. The only difference for the common developer is that he knows the stuff he is doing will be more efficient at runtime.

The con: If you like metadata driven applications (and already struggled with ASP.NET databinding because there is no way to attach meta data)… well, prepare for some further loss of information. If you need some event for any property setter (for tracing or tracking), if you need any kind of dynamic behaviour (e.g. to attach some kind of generic rules engine),  … let’s just hope the developer of the code generator anticipated that use case (or prepare for some work). You have a clean layer separation and the entities should know nothing about the UI? Well, put your code riht into the data class will spoil that. But hey, you might use partial methods to implement real events. Manually.

So you and I, the common developer that is, will not gain very much from this use case. But we will become more dependend on the ability, the mercy, and the foresight of the developers of the code generators and designers.

Will we be able to employ partial methods (rather than only consuming them)? Let’s see… when did I last write a class that had to support a vast amount of events? (That actually occasionally happens when I lay some infrastructure for the next project or work on framework code.) A class that was at the same time not intended to act as base class? (OK, forget about the infastructure!). But I surely wrote code by hand (because there was no code generator) that looks exactly like a candidate? But then I simply wrote the methods I needed, as I needed them — no need for a partial declaration.

So, unless I enter the camp of the not-so-common-code-generator-writing-developers (it happens, but only rarely), I can see no relevant use case that allows me to employ partial methods. (I really don’t count the example of increasing the readability conditional compilation — as presented in the VB post above — as relevant for a new language feature.)

Again, for whom are partial methods made? In my opinion they are made for Microsoft. To help them writing code generators that generate more efficient code. Code that conforms with the constant shift from object oriented (inheritance and virtual methods), component oriented (interfaces, events), metadata driven (attributes) development to a more and more exclusively used code generation approach. Highly efficient, but really not meant for me.

Do I have a better solution for the problem partial methods solve? I don’t. Therefore I can’t blame Microsoft for putting them in. Do I have concerns about how that will affect my work? I certainly do. Therefore I do hope the developers employing them do it with utmost caution. And with the awareness that not everyone uses their tools in a point-and-click kind of fashion.

There already has been some concern about partial methods in the .NET community — and for other reasons than the ones I mentioned: Language complexity, naming issues, other features higher on the wish list, and so on. I recommend reading the comments of the post above if you want to keep up with that. Whether partial methods are a good idea or not, they are easily the single most controversial language feature in C# so far.

That’s all for now folks,
AJ.NET