When Should You Use the `params` Keyword in C# Methods?

Understanding the Params Keyword

The params keyword in C# offers a convenient way to create a method that accepts a variable number of arguments. However, there seems to be a misconception regarding its necessity.

Consider the following example:

static public int addTwoEach(int[] args)
{
    int sum = 0;
    foreach (var item in args)
        sum += item + 2;
    return sum;
}

As you mentioned, removing the params keyword from this function yields the same result:

static public int addTwoEach(params int[] args)
{
    int sum = 0;
    foreach (var item in args)
        sum += item + 2;
    return sum;
}

So, why use the params keyword at all?

The significance lies in the flexibility it provides when calling the method. With the params keyword, you can pass an arbitrary number of arguments directly, as seen in the following example:

addTwoEach(1, 2, 3, 4, 5);

Without the params keyword, you would need to pass your arguments as an array:

addTwoEach(new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 });

This can be particularly useful when you want to aggregate values from multiple sources or when the number of arguments is unknown beforehand.

Furthermore, you can optimize the code significantly using the Sum() method provided by arrays in C#:

public static int addTwoEach(params int[] args)
{
    return args.Sum() + 2 * args.Length;
}

This eliminates the need for the foreach loop and makes your code more efficient.

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