Dynamitey

Dynamitey is a .NET library that wraps the Dynamic Language Runtime to do runtime dispatch: late binding, currying, partial application, expando objects, tuple manipulation, and duck-typed proxies.

Jay Tuley (@jbtule) wrote Dynamitey. This documentation covers Dynamitey.Community, the community continuation of ekonbenefits/dynamitey, which has been dormant since its 3.0.3 release in November 2023.

Important

The package is Dynamitey.Community 4.0.0. The original Dynamitey package on NuGet remains upstream's 3.0.3 and does not contain this code.

Where to start

If you want to Read
See what 4.0.0 contains, and which runtimes it still supports About 4.0.0
Call a member you cannot see at compile time Late binding
Use a type from an assembly you have no reference to Late types
Move from the original Dynamitey package Migrating
Build object graphs inline Builders and expandos
Curry or partially apply a function Currying
Create or manipulate tuples at runtime Tuples
Await a method whose return type you cannot see Async
Make repeated dynamic calls faster Caching
Look up a specific type or member API reference

The shortest example

using Dynamitey;

var target = "a,b,c";
var result = Dynamic.InvokeMember(target, "Split", new object[] { ',' });

That resolves Split at runtime against whatever target actually is. The compiler is not asked to know, which is the point: it works against internal types, types from assemblies you have no reference to, and shapes decided at runtime.

What this library is for

The DLR gives C# the dynamic keyword, and dynamic alone covers most everyday cases. Dynamitey exists for the cases it does not:

  • Accessibility. dynamic resolves members in your assembly's accessibility context, so it cannot reach a private or internal member, and cannot hand you a value whose type you cannot see. Dynamitey can.
  • Names decided at runtime. target.Foo requires writing Foo. Dynamic.InvokeMember(target, name, args) does not.
  • Reuse. A dynamic call site is compiler-generated and tied to one location. CacheableInvocation makes the cached binder an object you hold and reuse across call sites.
  • Function manipulation. Currying, partial application, and delegate conversion have no dynamic equivalent at all.

Supported frameworks

netstandard2.0 and net10.0. The netstandard2.0 target is kept deliberately — it is the only target reaching both .NET Framework 4.6.1–4.8.1 and modern .NET from a single assembly.

A word on trimming and AOT

This library is DLR-based and will never be trim-safe or NativeAOT-safe. Rather than fail at runtime, dynamic-dispatch entry points carry [RequiresUnreferencedCode] and [RequiresDynamicCode], so a trimmed or AOT-compiled project gets build-time warnings at the exact call sites that will not survive.

Edit this page