Data type suitable for couple of List <string> objects, as one container to hold both

Question

learning c# on my own , in a new project i have started working on,

one of the methods, accepts a List<string> type data, passed in as a parameter . i would like to know , now ...that the need is for two of those lists, two types of data, or two groups,

and just for this example , say i have a pros and cons, or.. girls and boys,

these are actually 2 separated lists of elements or objects, i need to pass in, as a parameter , and i want it to be passed as-one data-Type, and then, inside the method i will take care of separation of data lists , so.. instead of a couple of List objects i, thought(for a second there , that a Dictionary will be suitable...)

though i will only have one element (one item... each is a List) ,in this data type that i need to pass

what can i do to get this result ?

i will try to illustrate it :

List<string> classGirls = new List<string>();
List<string> classBoys = new List<string>();

for eace item in source... load both from the source

done List girls + List Boys are populated how would you pass them as one as a Dictionary Could though knowing you will only have One Girls And One Boys ListObjects ?

public bool foundAMatch( string Lookup, List<string> G , List<string> B){
{
    var firstGirl = G.ElementAt(0);
    var firstBoy = B.ElementAt(0);

    return firstGirl == Lookup && firstBoy !=Lookup ;
}

instead i need it to be something Like

  public bool foundAmatch(string Lookup, someDataType.... Kids)
  {
    var firstGirl = kids-girls <-- first entity in kids;
    var firstBoy = kids-boys <-- first entity in Kids; 

    return firstGirl == Lookup && firstBoy !=Lookup ;
  } 

few things in mind ...as to properties of data , it should have good performance... naturally desired, though most importantly, it should be appropriate /easy to arrange and suitable for iterations using loops for sorting and as subject to all kind of statistic operations .

• question is,

how will you implement the logic , is it an existing data Type... that i am thinking of ?

if it's not, what approach will you implement in this scenario choosing / crafting a data Type ?

Answer 1

The best way to get one collection is to create a class representing a boy as well as a girl. Please find the example below:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private class Kid
        {
            public bool Gender { get; set; }
            public String Name { get; set; }
        }

        private List<Kid> kids;

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // === Load data =================================================
            kids = new List<Kid>();
            kids.Add(new Kid { Name = "John", Gender = true });
            kids.Add(new Kid { Name = "Paul", Gender = true });
            kids.Add(new Kid { Name = "Jack", Gender = true });
            kids.Add(new Kid { Name = "Brenda", Gender = false });
            kids.Add(new Kid { Name = "Judith", Gender = false });
            kids.Add(new Kid { Name = "Sofia", Gender = false });

            Kid foundKid = foundAMatch("sofIa");
        }

        private Kid foundAMatch(string name)
        {
            var result = (from K in kids
                          where K.Name.ToLower() == name.ToLower() 
                          select K);

            if (result.Count() != 0)
                return result.First();
            else
                return null;
        }

        private Kid foundAMatch(string name, bool gender)
        {
            var result = (from K in kids
                          where K.Name.ToLower() == name.ToLower() && K.Gender == gender
                          select K);

            if (result.Count() != 0)
                return result.First();
            else
                return null;
        }

    }
}

Answer 2

You can solve this easily by using inheritance:

public abstract class Person
{
    public string Name { get; private set; }  // The setter is private because we only have to set this name when we create an instance

    protected Person(string name)
    {
        Name = name;
    }
}

public class Male : Person
{
    public Male(string name) : base(name)  // This constructor calls the constructor of the class it inherits and passes on the same argument
}

public class Female : Person
{
    public Female(string name) : base(name)
}

public bool IsMatch(string needle, IEnumerable<Person> haystack)
{
    var firstGirl = haystack.OfType<Female>().FirstOrDefault();
    var firstBuy = haystack.OfType<Male>().FirstOrDefault();
    return firstGirl != null &&
           firstGirl.Name == needle &&
           firstBoy != null &&
           firstBoy.Name != needle;
}

edit:

I quite like extension methods, so I'd write the method like this:

public static class PersonExtensions
{
    public static bool IsMatch(this IEnumerable<Person> haystack, string needle)
    {
        // same method logic in here
    }
}

which you can then use like:

var people = new List<Person>();
people.Add(new Male { Name = "Bob" });
people.Add(new Female { Name = "Mary" });
var isMatch = people.IsMatch("Jane");

edit2:

It's probably even better to just have gender as a property of the Person class:

public enum Sex
{
    Male,
    Female
}

public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; private set; }
    public Sex Gender { get; private set; }

    public Person(string name, Sex gender)
    {
        Name = name;
        Gender = gender;
    }
}

and change the method to:

var firstGirl = haystack.FirstOrDefault(p => p.Gender == Gender.Female);
var firstBoy = haystack.FirstOrDefault(p => p.Gender == Gender.Male);