MS.Internal | Tech Off

ido.ran

Microsoft has the namespace MS.Internal which has all kind of interesting classes.

Why do they keep it internal and not release it - for example, I needed a WeakReferenceList and just happen to find it in there along with CopyOnWriteList which is great too.

You do a good work, why keep it secret ?

Ido.

Dexter

Because if they make it public then they have to document it and support it. It also means it cannot be removed or changed in radical ways because it would break everyone that uses it. All the joy that you get when you make a type or method public.

figuerres
???

In reply to Dexter

#Aug 28th @ 4:16 AM

Yeah, i really hope no one starts depending on stuff they have marked as "do not use this"

that will some day make the app explode when they change or remove some of that stuff....

wkempf

In reply to Dexter

#Aug 28th @ 4:16 AM

Another reason: those internal classes can be designed to meet a specific need, which means they aren't necessarily appropriate for general consumption. The implementations can make some assumptions about the environment and the usage patterns that a general purpose version could not.

@ido.ran you have private code in your own projects, don't you? Why wouldn't Microsoft do the same thing?

W3bbo
The Master of Baiters

You can use them too, just dump their disassembly with Reflector and compile it into your own program.

of course, that might be breaking copyright.

Sven Groot
My name has 9 letters. Coincidence? I think not...

In reply to W3bbo

#Aug 28th @ 6:46 AM

It might break copyright, but it will definitely break the EULA.

ido.ran

In reply to wkempf

#Aug 28th @ 5:47 AM

Hi,

Thank you for all the replies.

I'm not attacking Microsoft, sure they have the right to put stuff private and internal - that's why they create those keywords in the first place.

It just that I needed a WeakReferenceList implementation, and didn't find any public class like it, so I search in the reflector and found the internal one in WindowsBase assembly.

I fully understand that if they made the class internal they have a reason - and also I understand that WeakReferenceList can have difference implementation depend on the needs.

The bottom line is that Microsoft did a good job. Little more and it will be great.

Ido.