title: C# shortcut for a List property that should never return null
body: <p>In order to make sure that a list property would never return null, I declared it this way:       </p>
  
  <pre><code>    private IList&lt;Item&gt; _myList;
  
      [NotNull]
      public IList&lt;Item&gt; MyList
      {
          get { return _myList ?? new List&lt;Item&gt;(); }
          set { _myList = value; }
      }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This works, but I hate the syntax. Considering that I should use this technique extensively throughout my project, I'm looking for a better way to write this or a better solution to the same problem. Any idea?</p>