


Non-generic collection types in the System.Collections namespace provide some thread safety with synchronization typically exposed through the SyncRoot and IsSynchronized members. Synchronization for access from multiple threads ( System.Collections classes only). Array has a lower bound of zero by default, but a different lower bound can be defined when creating an instance of the Array class using Array.CreateInstance. All indexed collections in the System.Collections namespaces have a lower bound of zero, meaning they're 0-indexed. The lower bound of a collection is the index of its first element. The best way to avoid poor performance caused by multiple reallocations is to set the initial capacity to be the estimated size of the collection.Ī BitArray is a special case its capacity is the same as its length, which is the same as its count. If the capacity needs to be increased to accommodate the new element, adding an item becomes an O( n) operation, where n is Count. For example, for List, if Count is less than Capacity, adding an item is an O(1) operation. However, the performance of the collection might be negatively affected.
BASIC DATA STRUCTURES CODE
This design reduces the code required to use the collection. The memory is reallocated, and the elements are copied from the old collection to the new one. Most collections automatically expand in capacity when the current capacity is reached. Some collections hide the capacity or the count or both. The count of a collection is the number of elements it actually contains. The capacity of a collection is the number of elements it can contain. In addition, many collection classes contain the following features: The resulting array is always one-dimensional with a lower bound of zero. However, the order of the elements in the new array is based on the sequence in which the enumerator returns them. The ability to copy the collection contents to an arrayĪll collections can be copied to an array using the CopyTo method. For more information, see LINQ to Objects (C#), LINQ to Objects (Visual Basic), Parallel LINQ (PLINQ), Introduction to LINQ Queries (C#), and Basic Query Operations (Visual Basic). LINQ queries can also improve performance. They're typically more concise and readable than standard foreach loops and provide filtering, ordering, and grouping capabilities. LINQ queries provide a common pattern for accessing data. In addition, any collection that implements is considered a queryable type and can be queried with LINQ. The foreach, in statement and the For Each.Next Statement use the enumerator exposed by the GetEnumerator method and hide the complexity of manipulating the enumerator. An enumerator can be thought of as a movable pointer to any element in the collection. NET collections either implement or to enable the collection to be iterated through. In addition, all collections that directly or indirectly implement the ICollection interface or the ICollection interface share these features: The immutable collection classes in the namespace ( NuGet package) are inherently thread-safe because operations are performed on a copy of the original collection, and the original collection can't be modified.Īll collections provide methods for adding, removing, or finding items in the collection. NET Framework 4 and later versions, the collections in the namespace provide efficient thread-safe operations for accessing collection items from multiple threads. However, you might see non-generic collections in older code.
BASIC DATA STRUCTURES WINDOWS
Non-generic collections store items as Object, require casting, and most aren't supported for Windows Store app development. In addition, most generic collections are supported in Windows Store apps. They don't require that you cast to and from the Object type when you add or remove items from the collection. Generic collections accept a type parameter when they're constructed. Because of this, generic collections typically offer better performance. Generic collections are type-safe at compile time. There are two main types of collections generic collections and non-generic collections. You can use the System.Array class or the classes in the System.Collections,, , and namespaces to add, remove, and modify either individual elements or a range of elements in a collection. Similar data can often be handled more efficiently when stored and manipulated as a collection.
