arrays - Portable Mode Function in Visual Basic -

i'm trying make mode function accept arrays of type, , i'm not making progress. here's i've got now:

private function mode(byref list object) object         dim array() object = {}         try             array = ctype(list, object())         catch ex exception             messagebox.show("failed cast array of objects in mode function!")             return nothing         end try         dim uniqueobjects() integer = {array(0)}         dim frequency() integer = {1}         integer = 0 array.length - 1             j integer = 0 uniqueobjects.length - 1 'loop through frequency                 if array(i) = uniqueobjects(j)                     frequency(j) += 1                     exit                 elseif j = uniqueobjects.length - 1                     redim preserve uniqueobjects(uniqueobjects.length) 'add unique objects array                     uniqueobjects(uniqueobjects.length - 1) = array(i)                     redim preserve frequency(frequency.length) 'increment frequency                     frequency(frequency.length - 1) += 1                 end if             next         next          return uniqueobjects(system.array.indexof(frequency, frequency.max))     end function 

i rid of slow call ctype , pass array of objects function, gives me weird error when pass array of integers function:

error 1 value of type '1-dimensional array of integer' cannot converted '1-dimensional array of object' because 'integer' not reference type. {filename}.vb {line} {column} {project name}

this turning out trickier had expected. can offer advice?

how making generic function?

private function mode(of t)(byref array t()) object     '... end function 

or

private function mode(of t)(byref array t()) t()     '... end function 

then do:

dim obj object = mode(of integer)({0, 1, 2, 3}) 

or:

dim obj integer() = mode(of integer)({0, 1, 2, 3})