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The GUID used to track down the author of the Melissa virus The ETW provider for ASP.NET events The Windows device class for floppy disk drives The GPT system partition on newer UEFI computers

The ArraySegments library allows you to easily slice and dice ArraySegment<T> instances.

// Use the ArraySegments library.
using ArraySegments;

class Test
{
  public static void Playground()
  {
    byte[] myData = ...;
    ArraySegment<byte> data = myData.AsArraySegment();

    // Take, Skip, TakeLast, SkipLast, and Slice are all available.
    ArraySegment<byte> header = data.Take(1024); // Look ma, no copying!

    // BinaryReader/BinaryWriter/MemoryStreams also provided for convenience.
    using (var binaryReader = header.CreateBinaryReader())
    {
      int littleEndianInt32 = binaryReader.ReadInt32();
      ...;
    }
  }
}

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This is a "fill in the gaps" sort of library for working with async and await. This library contains a large number of small utility classes.

One type is AsyncLazy<T>, which provides asynchronous lazy initialization. It executes the asynchronous initialization when it is awaited, and ensures that the initialization is only performed once.

// Use the AsyncEx library.
using Nito.AsyncEx;

class Test
{
  private static readonly AsyncLazy<MyResource> resource =
      new AsyncLazy(async () =>
      {
        var ret = new MyResource();
        await ret.InitializeAsync();
        return ret;
      });

  public static async Task MethodWhichUsesResourceAsync()
  {
    MyResource myResource = await resource;
    ...;
  }
}

Another useful type is AsyncLock, an asynchronous lock. Asynchronous methods may use the lock for synchronization without blocking (that is, the method is blocked, but the thread is not):

// Use the AsyncEx library.
using Nito.AsyncEx;

class Test
{
  private readonly AsyncLock sync = new AsyncLock();

  public async Task AccessSharedStateAsync()
  {
    using (await sync.LockAsync())
    {
      ...;
    }
  }
}

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Connected Properties allow you to dynamically attach properties to any reference type that uses reference equality.

The connected properties have lifetimes exactly like regular properties (even if they reference their carrier object). A connected property is a true ephemeron.

// Use the Connected Properties library.
using Nito.ConnectedProperties;
using Nito.ConnectedProperties.Named;

class Program
{
  // Display the Name of any object passed into this method.
  public static void DisplayName(object obj)
  {
    // Look up a connected property called "Name".
    var nameProperty = obj.GetConnectedProperty("Name");
    Console.WriteLine("Name: " + nameProperty.Get());
  }

  static void Main()
  {
    // Create an object to name.
    var obj = new object();

    // I dub this object "Bob".
    var nameProperty = obj.GetConnectedProperty("Name");
    nameProperty.Set("Bob");

    // Pass the object to the DisplayName method, which is able to retrieve the connected property.
    DisplayName(obj);
  }
}

Note: You should not develop a design using Connected Properties. The Connected Properties library should only be used to work around limitations in third-party code.

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