C# 9 Covariant Returns

It is a common pattern in code that different method names have to be invented to work around the language constraint that overrides must return the same type as the overridden method.

• When we inherit from a class, it is possible to override a method if it is declared abstract or virtual but it is not possible to change the return type of this method.
• In C# 9, you can now return a covariant type of the initial type declared in the parent class.
• You can override a base class method that has a less-specific type with one that returns a more specific type.
• For example, you can now return a type that is inherited from the parent class.

Let's consider the following simple program.

interface I1 
{ 
    object M(); 
}

class C1 : I1 
{ 
    public object M() 
    { 
        return "C1.M"; 
    } 
}
class C2 : C1, I1 
{ 
    public new string M() 
    { 
        return "C2.M"; 
    } 
}

public class Program
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        I1 i = new C2();
        Console.WriteLine(i.M());
    }
}

The above example will print "C1.M" in the current version of C#, but in C# 9.0, it will print "C2.M" under the proposed revision. Due to this breaking change, the .NET team might consider not supporting covariant return types on implicit implementations.

Let's consider another example, before C# 9.0, you can't specify the child class as a return type from the override method if the base method return type is base class as shown below.

abstract class Animal
{
    public abstract Food GetFood();
}
class Tiger : Animal
{
    public override Food GetFood()
    {
        return new Meat();
    }
}

class Cat : Animal
{
    public override Food GetFood()
    {
        return new Milk();
    }
}

public class Food
{
}

public class Meat : Food
{
    public Meat()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("I eat meat...");
    }
}

public class Milk : Food
{
    public Milk()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("I drink milk...");
    }
}

In the above example, you can see that we have specified the Food as a return type in all classes. You will need to cast the initial return type to its derived type as shown below.

Tiger tiger = new Tiger();
Cat cat = new Cat();

Meat meat = (Meat)tiger.GetFood();
Milk milk = (Milk)cat.GetFood();

Now in C# 9.0, you can explicitly return a covariant by specifying the specific type instead of the base type.

abstract class Animal
{
    public abstract Food GetFood();
}
class Tiger : Animal
{
    public override Meat GetFood()
    {
        return new Meat();
    }
}

class Cat : Animal
{
    public override Milk GetFood()
    {
        return new Milk();
    }
}

public class Food
{ 
}

public class Meat : Food
{
    public Meat()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("I eat meat...");
    }
}

public class Milk : Food
{
    public Milk()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("I drink milk...");
    }
}

In the above code, you can see the GetFood method return type is Food while in Tiger, Cat classes the return type is Meat and Milk respectively.

Now you don't need to cast it to the specific type.

Tiger tiger = new Tiger();
Cat cat = new Cat();

Meat meat = tiger.GetFood();
Milk milk = cat.GetFood();