I recently began to start using functions to make casting easier on my fingers for one instance I had something like this

((Dictionary<string,string>)value).Add(foo);

and converted it to a tiny little helper function so I can do this

ToDictionary(value).Add(foo);

Is this a code smell?

Also, what about simpler examples? For example in my scripting engine I've considered making things like this

((StringVariable)arg).Value="foo";

be

ToStringVar(arg).Value="foo";

I really just dislike how inorder to cast a value and instantly get a property from it you must enclose it in double parentheses. I have a feeling the last one is much worse than the first one though

(also I've marked this language agnostic even though my example is C#)