Uses for static generic classes?

I use static generic classes for caching reflection-heavy code.

Let’s say I need to build an expression tree that instantiates objects. I build it once in the static constructor of the class, compile it to a lambda expression, then cache it in a member of the static class. I often don’t make these classes publicly assessable – they are usually helpers for other classes. By caching my expressions in this way, I avoid the need to cache my expressions in some sort of Dictionary<Type, delegate>.

There is an example of this pattern in the BCL. The (DataRow) extension methods Field<T>() and SetField<T>() use the (private) static generic class System.Data.DataRowExtensions+UnboxT<T>. Check it out with Reflector.

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