C# Extension Method for Object

Question

Is it a good idea to use an extension method on the Object class?

I was wondering if by registering this method if you were incurring a performance penalty as it would b

Answer 1

Is it a good idea to use an extension method on the Object class?

Yes, there are cases where it is a great idea in fact.Tthere is no performance penalty whatsoever by using an extension method on the Object class. As long as you don't call this method the performance of your application won't be affected at all.

For example consider the following extension method which lists all properties of a given object and converts it to a dictionary:

public static IDictionary ObjectToDictionary(object instance)
{
    var dictionary = new Dictionary(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
    if (instance != null)
    {
        foreach (var descriptor in TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(instance))
        {
            object value = descriptor.GetValue(instance);
            dictionary.Add(descriptor.Name, value);
        }
    }
    return dictionary;
}