CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.net
user471317
user471317

Reputation: 1231

Why is this OrderBy not throwing an error?

I have a List of numbers that I want to order. 

List<int> numbers = new List<int> { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 };

It works fine if I do 

.OrderBy(n => n)

Just for the heck of it, I tried 

.OrderBy(n => "ASC")

It didn't work, but it was not throwing an error. And If I hover over OrderBy, the intellisense shows,

IOrderedEnumerable<int> IEnumerable<int>.OrderBy<int,string>(Func<int,string> keySelector)

Just curious, why is that?

Thanks.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 201

Answers (5)

Chepene
Chepene

Reputation: 1128

It works, but it doesn't work as you want, cause you compare using "ASC".

If you want to order numbers use:
.OrderBy(i => i);
.OrderByDescending(i => i);

Upvotes: 0

Dave Cousineau
Dave Cousineau

Reputation: 13158

You are saying to sort the objects by some value, where each value to sort by is obtained through each object; normally this would be a property or function of that object. You can think of it like a 'column' in a database or spreadsheet.

Ex:

var employeesByName = Employees.OrderBy(employee => employee.Name);

gives an enumerable of employee objects ordered by their name values. If you were instead to do this:

var employeesByConstant = Employees.OrderBy(employee => "ASC");

then you are getting an enumerable of employee objects that are ordered by a 'column' in which all of the values are "ASC". Depending on the sort algorithm used this may have no effect, or some arbitrary ordering.

Upvotes: 0

NPSF3000
NPSF3000

Reputation: 2451

As others note, this is because this is perfectly legal. You could also do something like this:

 Enumerable.Range(0,20).OrderBy(x=>x.ToString());

You'll get the integers ordered... alphabetically.

0
1
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Upvotes: 0

Jacob Seleznev
Jacob Seleznev

Reputation: 8131

This method compare keys using default comparer. The key for each element is "ASC". Not illegal.

Upvotes: 1

mdm
mdm

Reputation: 12630

It wouldn't throw an error. You are telling it to compare using "ASC", and it is doing just that.

Upvotes: 4

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