use a variable to store type

Question

I want my program to be configurable what type of int it should use( most likely between int16 and int32 ) in order to save space.

I want to determine the type at the beginning of my code, so i just need to change one place instead of change all int16 to int32 .

Could there be something like:

Type myIntType = int16;// or int32
//just change here
.....
.....
//lost of use of myIntType
List<myIntType> arr = new List<myIntType>();
.....

In a small case the int list will hold numbers between 0 and 10,000 so UInt16 should be good.

But for large case the int list will hold numbers between 0 and 1,000,000 so should use Int32

I even wish there could be int20.

And the size of the list could be very large, so space intense.

Answer 1

You could use dynamic type in C# (I am not sure which version it was introduced in but the latest one should have it)

    List<dynamic> l = new List<dynamic>();
    dynamic d1 = 1;
    dynamic d2 = (Int16)1;

    l.Add(d1);
    l.Add(d2);
    //Your code goes here
    Console.WriteLine(d1.GetType());
    Console.WriteLine(d2.GetType());

    l.ForEach( x => Console.WriteLine(x.GetType()));