[API Proposal]: Convenient integers reading

[vorotynsky]

Background and motivation

C# doesn't have an API to read rows of integers from the console nicely.

One of the solutions is:

var array = Console.ReadLine()!.Split(' ', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
array = Array.ConvertAll(array, Int32.Parse);

Such a code is necessary for solving problems at codeforces or olympiads.

API Proposal

namespace System.IO;

public static class ReaderExtensions
{
    public static Int32 ReadInt32(this TextReader reader) { throw null; }

    // methods for other types
}

API Usage

var array = new int[10];

for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    array[i] = Console.In.ReadInt32();

Alternative Designs

C++ operators

int arr[10];

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    std::cin >> arr[i];

Java's Scanner

Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
int[] arr = new int[10];

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    arr[i] = scanner.nextInt();

Text format

C has function scanf, and F#, Go has the same API.

C# can adopt it like this:

Console.In.Scanf("%i", ref arr[i]);

Just read a word

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    arr[i] = Int32.Parse(Console.ReadWord());

Risks

No response

[dotnet-issue-labeler]

I couldn't figure out the best area label to add to this issue. If you have write-permissions please help me learn by adding exactly one area label.

[ghost]

Tagging subscribers to this area: @dotnet/area-system-io
See info in area-owners.md if you want to be subscribed.

Issue Details

---

Background and motivation

C# doesn't have an API to read rows of integers from the console nicely.

One of the solutions is:

var array = Console.ReadLine()!.Split(' ', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
array = Array.ConvertAll(array, Int32.Parse);

Such a code is necessary for solving problems at codeforces or olympiads.

API Proposal

namespace System.IO;

public static class ReaderExtensions
{
    public static Int32 ReadInt32(this TextReader reader) { throw null; }

    // methods for other types
}

API Usage

var array = new int[10];

for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    array[i] = Console.In.ReadInt32();

Alternative Designs

C++ operators

int arr[10];

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    std::cin >> arr[i];

Java's Scanner

Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
int[] arr = new int[10];

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    arr[i] = scanner.nextInt();

Text format

C has function scanf, and F#, Go has the same API.

C# can adopt it like this:

Console.In.Scanf("%i", ref arr[i]);

Just read a word

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    arr[i] = Int32.Parse(Console.ReadWord());

Risks

No response

Author:	vorotynsky
Assignees:	-
Labels:	api-suggestion, area-System.IO, untriaged
Milestone:	-

[svick]

Related: #64621, which proposes a different API with the same goal.

[adamsitnik]

Hi @vorotynsky

Thank you for your proposal. Since #64621 was opened first and includes proposal for other types as well I am going to close this issue as a duplicate. Please follow #64621 for updates.