using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

// This is a "functional" C# approach

// NOTE: In C# "maps" are of type Dictionary<Tkey, TValue>
// so our histogram map is of type Dictionary<object, int>
public class HistogramMap {
public Dictionary<object, int> FromList(List<object> list) {
// The "Aggregate" method works like "inject" in many other languages.
return list.Aggregate(
new Dictionary<object, int>(),
(map, obj) => {
// If this is the first time we've seen this obj, set the count to 0
if (!map.ContainsKey(obj)) map[obj] = 0;

// Increment the count
map[obj]++;

// Return the map for the next iteration.
// NOTE: This does NOT return from our "FromList" method
return map;
}
);
}

public static void Main() {
// Create our Histogram Map from a new list
var map = new HistogramMap().FromList(
new List<object>() { 'a', 'b', 'a', 'c', 'b', 'b' }
);

// This just prints the result
System.Console.WriteLine (
string.Join (", ",
// "Select" works like "map" or "collect" in many other languages
map.Select( kvp =>
string.Format("{0} : {1}", kvp.Key, kvp.Value)
).ToArray()
)
);
}
}

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
public class ListCategorizer {
public static void Main() {
var list = new List<string>() { "one", "two", "three", "four", "five" };
var categories = list.GroupBy(el => el.Length)
.ToDictionary( g => g.Key, // key
g => g.ToList() ); // value
}
}