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Why is TryParse the way round that it is?

I've been struggling to get my head around a natural way of using TryParse because I keep expecting it to work the other way around (i.e. to return the parsed value and emit the boolean for whether the input parsed).
For example, if we take a basic implementation of Parse, the return value is the parsed input:
int parsedValue = int.Parse(input);
This works fine until it gets a value that it can't parse, at which point it entirely reasonably throws an exception. To me, the option then is either to wrap the parse in something like a try-catch block to handle the exception and a condition to set a default, or just to use TryParse to let C# do all that for me. Except that's not how TryParse works. The above example now looks like this:
bool parseSucceeded = int.TryParse(input, out int parsedValue);
To get it to assign in the same way as Parse, I wrap it in a ternary conditional with parsedValue and a default value (in this case, 0) as the true and false results respectively:
int parsedValue = int.TryParse(input, out parsedValue) ? parsedValue : 0;
But I still feel like I'm missing the point with TryParse if I'm just working around its default behaviour like this. I've read Tim Schmelter's excellent answer in which he shows its internal workings, from which I can suppose that it returns the boolean because it's easier internally than passing it out at all the various places that it currently returns. But I'm not sure about this, and I'm not satisfied that I understand its intent correctly. I also tried reading the documentation for it, but the remarks don't clear up my confusion (I don't think they even make its differences with Parse clear enough, like the change in return type).
Am I understanding it correctly, or am I missing something?

Sure, it could have been implemented as
int TryParse(string input, out bool succeeded)
{
}
But as mentioned in a comment, the common use case for the function is:
string input;
int parsedValue;
if(int.TryParse(input, out parsedValue))
{
// use parsedValue here
}
With the signature you propose, that code would now be:
string input;
bool succeeded;
int parsedValue = int.TryParse(input, out succeeded)
if(succeeded)
{
// use parsedValue here
}
So there's more code for no functional benefit. Also, with your ternary operator, if the parse fails you just set a value of zero, which is unnecessary since the default value of it is 0. You could just do:
int parsedValue;
int.TryParse(input, out parsedValue);
If the parse fails, parsedValue will have a value of 0; (I also question if/how you distinguish between an actual result of 0 and a failed parse, but I'm sure you have a reason).
So there's no technical reason why the signature is the way it is; it's a design decision that is appropriate for the most common use cases.
Of course, now with tuples in C# 7 you could have:
(int parsedValue, bool succeeded) = int.TryParse(input);
but again there's little functional benefit and prevents you from inlining the TryParse in an if statement.

Because logically you would want to check that the TryParse succeeded before trying to use the out value.
So this is more concise:
if (int.TryParse(input, out int parsedValue)}
{
// Do something with parsedValue
}
Than this:
int parsedValue = int.TryParse(input, out bool succeded);
if (succeeded)
{
// Do something with parsedValue
}

I think, a large part of your confusion stems from the method name isn't named exactly right:
int parsedValue = int.Parse("42");
This makes perfect sense, give me the integeger representation of a string.
int parsedValue = int.TryParse(input);
This makes sense as an extension of the concept: Input might be '42' or 'Oswald', but if it's a number I want that number.
In 2020, I think a better name would be CanParse(string input, out int result).
It better matches style guides and naming conventions, where returning a bool should be named with Is, Has, or Can.
It better matches how we use TryParse 99% of the time:
if (int.CanParse(input, out int result))
{
return result * 10;
}
But where I feel the current name makes sense, is the problem I assume it was trying to solve: To get rid of the following boilerplate code:
int result;
bool hasValidNumber = false;
try
{
result = int.Parse(input);
hasValidNumber = true;
}
catch
{
// swallow this exception
}
if (hasValidNumber)
{
// do things with result
}
else
{
// use a default or other logic
}

Subtracting int from double leads to an error

I have an int and a double, but as soon as I try to subtract the integer from the double, the following error is thrown:
Input string was not in a correct format.
Now lets look at the code:
double TotalNoRegis = values.Sum(); // This is a LIST and its = 1569
string otherFe ="600";
double totalafter;
if(otherFe != string.Empty || otherFe!= "") // This part works fine
{
totalafter = TotalNoRegis - Convert.ToInt32(otherFe); // Here the error is thrown
}
What am I doing wrong here? I looked at this Example, which is basically the same thing: int x = 1 and int y = 2 and then int this = x-y;
Please let me know if you know the issue here.

What am I doing wrong here?
Lots.
if(otherFe != string.Empty || otherFe!= "") // This part works fine
That's nonsensical code. string.Empty and "" are the same string.
Instead use
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(otherFe))
Moving on:
totalafter = TotalNoRegis - Convert.ToInt32(otherFe); // Here the error is thrown
You claim that the error is the subtraction, but it is not. The problem is in the ToInt32. You are passing some other string than the one you are showing.
The way I like to do this is by making an extension method:
static public class Extensions
{
public static int? ParseAsInteger(this string s) {
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(s)) return null;
int i;
return int.TryParse(s, out i) ? (int?)i : (int?)null;
}
// Similarly write `ParseAsDouble` and so on.
}
Now you have an extension you can use:
double? totalAfter = TotalNoRegis - otherFe.ParseAsInteger();
(Or ParseAsDouble, or whatever.)
If otherFe was valid, then totalAfter has the total; if it was not, then it is null.
The lesson here is: move the type conversion logic into its own method which you can independently test. Then the logic at the call site of that method becomes simpler and easier to follow.

You should use an integer instead of a double, especially if you don't have a reason to use the double. So to rectify, you could simply do the following.
int total = values.Sum();
var other = "6000";
if(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(other))
if(int.TryParse(other, out int subtractor))
total -= subtractor;
If you require a double, then use but if you don't why bother? Also, you are subtracting fifteen hundred items from six thousand, your total after will always be negative or often be negative. Is that your desired intent?
Something to note, with the TryParse if it fails it'll skip the subtraction rather than fail like parse or convert would do. Also do you want the sum of the list or count?

Reducing time complexity of the code

I have the following code but it takes 20sec to process the 52957 inputs of type BigInteger. This is the question that i want to solve https://www.hackerearth.com/problem/algorithm/girlfriends-demands/
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Numerics;
namespace girldfriends_demands
{
class Program
{
private static string inputString = String.Empty;
private static int testCases=0;
private static BigInteger[,] indexArray;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
initialize();
printDemand();
Console.ReadLine();
}
private static void initialize()
{
inputString = Console.ReadLine();
testCases = int.Parse(Console.ReadLine());
indexArray = new BigInteger[testCases, 2];
for (int i = 0; i < testCases; i++)
{
string[] tokens = Console.ReadLine().Split();
indexArray[i, 0] = BigInteger.Parse(tokens[0]);
indexArray[i, 1] = BigInteger.Parse(tokens[1]);
}
}
private static void printDemand()
{
char[] convertedString = inputString.ToCharArray();
for (int i = 0; i < testCases; i++)
{
BigInteger length=inputString.Length;
BigInteger startf, endf; ;
BigInteger.DivRem(indexArray[i, 0] - 1,length,out startf);
BigInteger.DivRem(indexArray[i, 1]-1,length,out endf);
char c=convertedString[((int)startf)];
char e=convertedString[((int)endf)];
if(c==e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Yes");
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("No");
}
}
}
}
}
Please specify how to reduce the time complexity of the code.This program gets the letters at the specified position in a string and prints true if they are same else false. Also computing the range at prior to the loop isn't helping

Why you use BigInteger ?
In any case string.length is typeof int.
It mean that if your string exceed 2147483647 (2^31 -1) your program will be broken.
I think changing BigInteger to int will help.

Console.ReadLine().Split()
is the biggest of your problems. For every single line in the file, you create an array of strings, one letter per string. This is a huge performance drain, and almost certainly not what you intended - in particular, it would be wholy unnecessary to use BigInteger to store a single-digit number...
I assume that you actually want to split the line in two based on some delimiter. For example, if your numbers are separated by a comma, you can use
Console.ReadLine().Split(',')
Even then, there is little reason to use BigInteger at all. The operation you're trying to perform is distinctly string-based, and very easy to do with strings. However, I can't really help you more specifically, because your problem description is incredibly ambiguous for such a simple task, and the code is so obviously wrong it's entirely useless to guess at what exactly you're trying to do.
EDIT:
Okay, your link confirmed my assumptions - you are massively overcomplicating this. For example, code like this will do:
var word = Console.ReadLine();
var items = int.Parse(Console.ReadLine());
for (var _ = 0; _ < items; _++)
{
var indices =
Console.ReadLine()
.Split(' ')
.Select(i => (int)((long.Parse(i) - 1) % word.Length))
.ToArray();
Console.WriteLine(word[indices[0]] == word[indices[1]] ? "Yes" : "No");
}
First, note that the numbers will always fit in a long, which allows you to avoid using BigIntever. Second, you need to use Split properly - in this case, the delimiter is a space. Third, there's no reason not to do the whole processing in a single stream - waiting for the whole input, collecting it in memory and then outputting everything at once is a waste of memory. Fourth, note how easy it was to avoid most of the complex checks while incorporating the whole necessary mechanism in simple arithmetic operations.
This runs under 2 seconds on each of the input data, only using ~80kiB of memory.
I think that ideologically, this fits the site perfectly - it's very simple and straightforward and works for all the expected inputs - the perfect hack. Of course, you'd want extra checks if this was for an end-user application, but the HackerEarth site name implies hacks are what's expected, really.

In my experience, frequent Console.WriteLine calls can lead to huge execution times.
Instead of calling that function whenever you want to add some output, I think you should use a StringBuilder object, and append all your output to it. Then, after the for-loop, call Console.WriteLine once to print the StringBuilder's contents.
This might not be your program's biggest problem, but it will help quite a bit.

Myabe by removing casts in these line and using string.compare you cand decrease execution time
if(string.Compare(startf.ToString(), endf.ToString()))
{
Console.WriteLine("Yes");
continue;
}
Console.WriteLine("No");

convert variable in asp.net

I wrote a piece of simple code that I dont to find what the problem.
the code is:
var sortSecurities="SELECT * FROM securities";
int total=0;
var value="";
foreach(var row in db.Query(sortSecurities))
{
value=row.lastGate;
total=Convert.ToInt32(value)*100;// here the problem with compilation..
db.Execute("INSERT INTO holding(IDgrossPortfolio,IDSecurity,totalHolding,units,buyGate) "+"VALUES (#0,#1,#2,#3,#4)",row.category,row.number,total,"100",row.lastGate);
}
what the problem with the convert?
the error is:
Exception Details: System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.

value does not hold a value that can be converted to Int32. If you could do some debugging and see what the value of it is from row.lastGate, you might see what the problem is.
Also, not sure what is returned by db.Query(sortSecurities) (or really what kind of object row.lastGate is), but you can also try to change value=row.lastGate; to value=row.lastGate.ToString();

you can use try parse to check if the value actually contains a number
int total;
bool result = Int32.TryParse(value, out total);
if (result)
{
db.Execute("INSERT INTO holding(IDgrossPortfolio,IDSecurity,totalHolding,units,buyGate) "+"VALUES (#0,#1,#2,#3,#4)",row.category,row.number,total,"100",row.lastGate);
}

Your value isn't successfully being parsed by Convert.ToInt32()
Alternatively, consider using Int32.TryParse() and validate if the data is indeed the type of data you're expecting.
int result;
if(Int32.TryParse(row.lastGate, out result))
{
//row.lastGate was a valid int
total = result * 100;
}
else
{
//row.lastGate wasn't a valid int
}

Thanks you for all... I try now and found elegant answer.
Like I wrote in the comments, becouse I know that the value of row.lastGate
represent a number I don't need to check it.
So I try this and it works:
var sortSecurities="SELECT * FROM securities";
int total=0;
double value=0;
foreach(var row in db.Query(sortSecurities))
{
value=Convert.ToDouble(row.lastGate);
total=Convert.ToInt32(value)*100;//100 is default
db.Execute("INSERT INTO holding(IDgrossPortfolio,IDSecurity,totalHolding,units,buyGate) "+"VALUES (#0,#1,#2,#3,#4)",row.category,row.number,total,"100",row.lastGate);
}
Probably I needed to change the value first of all to double and then to int
Becouse when I try to change it directly to int the Compiler did'nt interpret the
string right, becouse of the dot in the number (type double).
thanks about the the intention..

C# Input string was not in a correct format

Working on parsing from a text box to int to get into the incrementHour method as shown.
if (txtHourPlus.Text != String.Empty)
{
time1.incrementHour(int.Parse(txtHour.Text));
}
And in the time class: (the time1 objects class)
public int incrementHour(int step)
{
if (step > 0 && hour < 24)
{
//step = step % hour;
hour = (hour + step) % 24;
time.AddHours(hour);
return hour;
}//end of if
else
{
MessageBox.Show("Please enter a positive number.");
return 0;
}//end of else
}//end of incrementHour
not sure why i'm getting this error. I'm converting it to the corrent data type. Because it accepts an int variable.
Alright well i got it to take the value (small mistake >.> Don't even wanna say it)
However as someone already said the method probably needs work because i'm trying to change the Datetime value that i get in the first place and add an hour or subtract and etc etc.

That will happen if someone has typed "foo" into the text box, for example. You should use int.TryParse instead, which lets you detect the error without an exception being thrown.
I notice that you're not actually using the return value of your method though - just like you're not using the return value of time.AddHours. You are aware that DateTime.AddHours doesn't actually modify the value you're calling it on, aren't you? (I suspect you'll need to tweak that method quite a bit, actually... there are various potential problems with it, depending on exact what you're trying to do.)
(Finally, I'd change the method name to IncrementHour to comply with .NET conventions.)

you are testing txtHourPlus for emptiness, but then parsing and passing txtHour. typo (?)

If your input isn't parsable as an integer, attempting to parse it will raise an exception. Validate or use Int32.TryParse()

Change this part of your code:
if (txtHour.Text != String.Empty)
{
int parsedValue;
if (int.TryParse(txtHour.Text, out parsedValue))
{
time1.incrementHour(parsedValue);
}
else
{
// non-numeric value was entered into the textbox - handle accordingly.
}
}