Plug-in architecture (dynamically loading DLLs) using LINQ

For implementing a plug-in architecture using the strategy pattern, this is my preferred way of loading some interfaces (DLLs) at runtime. Make sure you look at the second code example showing how to do the same thing in LINQ.

public List<T> LoadDLL<T>(string path, string pattern)
{
    List<T> plugins = new List<T>();
    foreach (string s in Directory.GetFiles(Path.GetFullPath(path), pattern))
    {
        foreach (Type t in Assembly.LoadFile(s).GetTypes())
        {
            if (!t.IsAbstract && typeof(T).IsAssignableFrom(t))
            {
                plugins.Add((T)Activator.CreateInstance(t));
            }
        }
    }

    return plugins;
}

Now using LINQ...

public List<T> LoadDLL<T>(string path, string pattern)
{
    return Directory.GetFiles(Path.GetFullPath(path), pattern)
        .SelectMany(f => Assembly.LoadFile(f).GetTypes()
            .Where(t => !t.IsAbstract && typeof(T).IsAssignableFrom(t))
            .Select(t => (T)Activator.CreateInstance(t)))
        .ToList();
}

If you want to load an assembly and all the dependent DLLs, you can use the same LINQ query, but use LoadFrom rather than LoadFile.

public List<T> LoadDLL<T>(string path, string pattern)
{
    return Directory.GetFiles(Path.GetFullPath(path), pattern)
        .SelectMany(f => Assembly.LoadFrom(f).GetTypes()
            .Where(t => !t.IsAbstract && typeof(T).IsAssignableFrom(t))
            .Select(t => (T)Activator.CreateInstance(t)))
        .ToList();
}

This can then be called using:

List<Foo> foos = LoadDLL<Foo>(@".\", "*.dll");