[vmarsy]

I agree on those 2 points.

regarding your second point, I don't like this unrolling either.

The trick seems to be instead of :

    return $mylist

Add a comma in front:

    return ,$mylist

https://stackoverflow.com/a/16122464

This will make sure [a] never gets changed to a, and [] never gets changed to $null

[electricEmu]

There is a slight better trick. If you specify the variable as an array, it will always be treated as such.

For example, instead of

    return $mylist

...you can...

    return @($mylist)

The return keyword is unnecessary in PowerShell so this can be shortened to:

    @(mylist)

[kabdib]

Yow. That's a great answer . . . for some value of "I wish I didn't have to know that, but I do have to, so therefore it is great." :-)