Parse<T>

public static T Parse<T>(this string value) {
    // Get default value for type so if string
    // is empty then we can return default value.
    T result = default(T);
    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(value)) {
        // we are not going to handle exception here
        // if you need SafeParse then you should create
        // another method specially for that.
        TypeConverter tc = TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(typeof(T));
        result = (T)tc.ConvertFrom(value);
        }
    return result;
}