Why can't you use a ref or out parameter in a lambda expression?
I came across the error today and found a workaround but I was still curious why this is a compile-time error.
CS1628: Cannot use in ref or out parameter 'parameter' inside an anonymous method, lambda expression, or query expression
Here's a simple example:
private void Foo()
{
int value;
Bar(out value);
}
private void Bar(out int value)
{
value = 3;
int[] array = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
int newValue = array.Where(a => a == value).First();
}
Lambdas have the appearance of changing the lifetime of variables that they capture. For instance the following lambda expression causes the parameter p1 to live longer than the current method frame as its value can be accessed after the method frame is no longer on the stack
Func<int> Example(int p1) {
return () => p1;
}
Another property of captured variables is that changes to the variable are also visible outside the lambda expression. For example the following prints 42
void Example2(int p1) {
Action del = () => { p1 = 42; }
del();
Console.WriteLine(p1);
}
These two properties produce a certain set of effects which fly in the face of a ref parameter in the following ways
These are somewhat incompatible properties and are one of the reasons they are disallowed in lambda expressions.