non-zero-indexed arrays in C# ( csharp ) are not implictly castable.

OffsetArray.cs

		static Func<int,int,Array> 		OffsetArray = (size,start) => Array.CreateInstance(typeof(string), new[] { size }, new[] { start });
		static Func<int,int,string[]>	OffsetArrayString = (size,start) => (string[]) Array.CreateInstance(typeof(string), new[] { size }, new[] { start });


		public static void Main ()
		{
			Array a = OffsetArray(24,1990);

			a.SetValue("I was born", 1990);
			a.SetValue("I dislocated my shoulder", 1996);
			a.SetValue("I was allowed to buy alcohol (big mistake)", 2008);
			a.SetValue("I started a programming blog", 2013);

			int lower = a.GetLowerBound(0);
			int i = lower;
			foreach(string s in a) {
				string @event = s;
				if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(@event)) @event = "i was a dull boy";
				Console.WriteLine("In the year " + i++ +  " of our lord: " + @event);
			}

			for (int year = a.GetLowerBound(0); year <= a.GetUpperBound(0); year++) {
				string @event = (string) a.GetValue(year);
				if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(@event)) @event = "i was a dull boy";
				Console.WriteLine("In the year " + year + " of our lord: " + @event);
			}

			try { 
				string[] b = OffsetArrayString(24,1990);
			} catch (InvalidCastException ice) {
				Console.WriteLine("I can't do this because: \n\t" + ice.ToString());
			}
		}