title: Make a Dictionary method argument default to an empty dictionary instead of null
body: <p>I have a <code>Dictionary&lt;string, string&gt;</code> as a method argument, and I was wondering if there is a way to make it default to an empty dictionary instead of <code>null</code>. I prefer to always have an empty list/dictionary/IEnumerable instead of <code>null</code>. I tried setting the parameter to:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Dictionary&lt;string, string&gt; dictionary = default(Dictionary&lt;string,string&gt;);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but that evaluates to <code>null</code>. </p>
  
  <p>Is there some way to make the default Dictionary empty? </p>