Small trap on .NET 2.0 List object

Consider the following small c# 2.0 program:

class Program {
  static void Main(string[] args) {
    List<int> l = new List<int>();
    int i = 0;
    bool truth = l.TrueForAll(delegate(int z) { i++; return false; });
    Console.WriteLine("i is {0} and truth is {1}", i, truth);
    Console.ReadKey();
  }
}

The delegate passed into the TrueForAll method has to return either true or false and is called for each element of the list. If all calls return true, the TrueForAll method will itself return true.

As you can see, the list contains no elements, so you can probably guess what the value of i will be. But can you guess the value of truth? Well, here’s the output:

i is 0 and truth is True.

Indeed, what is it supposed to return, since after all no answer can be given, and in a way any statement applied to nothing can be true. Even so, I would think that it could also be considered false, and that the way this method may be used, returning False may have been a better option.

In my concrete trap, I was asking whether a list HasData, which in turned was supposed to ask each of its elements if it contains any data…

class Program {

  static void Main(string[] args) {
    DataHolderSet set = new DataHolderSet();
    Console.WriteLine("set has data? {0}", set.HasData);
    Console.ReadKey();
  }
}

interface IDataHolder {
  bool HasData { get; }
}

class DataHolder : IDataHolder {
  public bool HasData {
    get { return false; }
  }
}

class DataHolderSet : List<IDataHolder>, IDataHolder {
  public bool HasData {
    get {
      return TrueForAll(delegate(IDataHolder z)
      { return z.HasData; });
    }
  }
}

Obviously we get true, although I have lured myself into expecting that the response should be false. Anyway, just something to be aware of…