How to Deep Copy a List in C# to Avoid Shared References?

Creating a True Deep Copy of a C# List

The Challenge

Simply using new List<Book>(books_1) to clone a List<T> in C# doesn't create a completely independent copy. Changes to the cloned list will also affect the original list because they share references to the underlying objects.

The Solution: A Deep Copy Approach

To achieve a true deep copy, ensuring that modifications to the cloned list don't impact the original, use the following technique:

<code class="language-csharp">List<Book> books_2 = books_1.ConvertAll(book => new Book(book.title));</code>

This code iterates through each Book object in the original list (books_1). For each object, it creates a new Book object using a constructor (implied here, assuming Book has a constructor that takes title as an argument). These newly created Book objects are then added to a new list (books_2). This guarantees that books_2 contains entirely independent copies of the data from books_1.

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