title: Is there any generic Parse() function that will convert a string to any type using parse?
body: <p>I want to convert a string to a generic type like <code>int</code> or <code>date</code> or <code>long</code> based on the generic return type.</p>
  
  <p>Basically a function like <code>Parse&lt;T&gt;(String)</code> that returns an item of type <code>T</code>.  </p>
  
  <p>For example if a int was passed the function should do <code>int.parse</code> internally.</p>