I often run into the case where I want to eval a query right where I declare it. This is usually because I need to iterate over it multiple times and it is expensive to compute. For example:
string raw = "...";
var lines = (from l in raw.Split('\n')
let ll = l.Trim()
where !string.IsNullOrEmpty(ll)
select ll).ToList();
This works fine. But if I am not going to modify the result, then I might as well call ToArray() instead of ToList().
I wonder however whether ToArray() is implemented by first calling ToList() and is therefore less memory efficient than just calling ToList().
Am I crazy? Should I just call ToArray() – safe and secure in the knowledge that the memory won’t be allocated twice?
It’s 2020 outside and everyone is using .NET Core 3.Best Answero I decided to run some benchmarks with Benchmark.NET.
TL;DR: ToArray() is better performance-wise and does a better job conveying intent if you’re not planning to mutate the collection.
EDIT: as seen from the comments, these benchmarks might not be indicative because Enumerable.Range(...) returns an IEnumerable<T> that has information about the size of the sequence, which is subsequently used in an optimization by ToArray() to pre-allocate an array of the correct size. Consider testing performance manually for your exact scenario.
[MemoryDiagnoser]
public class Benchmarks
{
[Params(0, 1, 6, 10, 39, 100, 666, 1000, 1337, 10000)]
public int Count { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<int> Items => Enumerable.Range(0, Count);
[Benchmark(Description = "ToArray()", Baseline = true)]
public int[] ToArray() => Items.ToArray();
[Benchmark(Description = "ToList()")]
public List<int> ToList() => Items.ToList();
public static void Main() => BenchmarkRunner.Run<Benchmarks>();
}
The results are:
BenchmarkDotNet=v0.12.0, OS=Windows 10.0.14393.3443 (1607/AnniversaryUpdate/Redstone1)
Intel Core i5-4460 CPU 3.20GHz (Haswell), 1 CPU, 4 logical and 4 physical cores
Frequency=3124994 Hz, Resolution=320.0006 ns, Timer=TSC
.NET Core SDK=3.1.100
[Host] : .NET Core 3.1.0 (CoreCLR 4.700.19.56402, CoreFX 4.700.19.56404), X64 RyuJIT
DefaultJob : .NET Core 3.1.0 (CoreCLR 4.700.19.56402, CoreFX 4.700.19.56404), X64 RyuJIT
| Method | Count | Mean | Error | StdDev | Median | Ratio | RatioSD | Gen 0 | Gen 1 | Gen 2 | Allocated |
|---------- |------ |--------------:|------------:|------------:|--------------:|------:|--------:|--------:|------:|------:|----------:|
| ToArray() | 0 | 7.357 ns | 0.2096 ns | 0.1960 ns | 7.323 ns | 1.00 | 0.00 | - | - | - | - |
| ToList() | 0 | 13.174 ns | 0.2094 ns | 0.1958 ns | 13.084 ns | 1.79 | 0.05 | 0.0102 | - | - | 32 B |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| ToArray() | 1 | 23.917 ns | 0.4999 ns | 0.4676 ns | 23.954 ns | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.0229 | - | - | 72 B |
| ToList() | 1 | 33.867 ns | 0.7350 ns | 0.6876 ns | 34.013 ns | 1.42 | 0.04 | 0.0331 | - | - | 104 B |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| ToArray() | 6 | 28.242 ns | 0.5071 ns | 0.4234 ns | 28.196 ns | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.0280 | - | - | 88 B |
| ToList() | 6 | 43.516 ns | 0.9448 ns | 1.1949 ns | 42.896 ns | 1.56 | 0.06 | 0.0382 | - | - | 120 B |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| ToArray() | 10 | 31.636 ns | 0.5408 ns | 0.4516 ns | 31.657 ns | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.0331 | - | - | 104 B |
| ToList() | 10 | 53.870 ns | 1.2988 ns | 2.2403 ns | 53.415 ns | 1.77 | 0.07 | 0.0433 | - | - | 136 B |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| ToArray() | 39 | 58.896 ns | 0.9441 ns | 0.8369 ns | 58.548 ns | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.0713 | - | - | 224 B |
| ToList() | 39 | 138.054 ns | 2.8185 ns | 3.2458 ns | 138.937 ns | 2.35 | 0.08 | 0.0815 | - | - | 256 B |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| ToArray() | 100 | 119.167 ns | 1.6195 ns | 1.4357 ns | 119.120 ns | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.1478 | - | - | 464 B |
| ToList() | 100 | 274.053 ns | 5.1073 ns | 4.7774 ns | 272.242 ns | 2.30 | 0.06 | 0.1578 | - | - | 496 B |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| ToArray() | 666 | 569.920 ns | 11.4496 ns | 11.2450 ns | 571.647 ns | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.8688 | - | - | 2728 B |
| ToList() | 666 | 1,621.752 ns | 17.1176 ns | 16.0118 ns | 1,623.566 ns | 2.85 | 0.05 | 0.8793 | - | - | 2760 B |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| ToArray() | 1000 | 796.705 ns | 16.7091 ns | 19.8910 ns | 796.610 ns | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.2951 | - | - | 4064 B |
| ToList() | 1000 | 2,453.110 ns | 48.1121 ns | 65.8563 ns | 2,460.190 ns | 3.09 | 0.10 | 1.3046 | - | - | 4096 B |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| ToArray() | 1337 | 1,057.983 ns | 20.9810 ns | 41.4145 ns | 1,041.028 ns | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.7223 | - | - | 5416 B |
| ToList() | 1337 | 3,217.550 ns | 62.3777 ns | 61.2633 ns | 3,203.928 ns | 2.98 | 0.13 | 1.7357 | - | - | 5448 B |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| ToArray() | 10000 | 7,309.844 ns | 160.0343 ns | 141.8662 ns | 7,279.387 ns | 1.00 | 0.00 | 12.6572 | - | - | 40064 B |
| ToList() | 10000 | 23,858.032 ns | 389.6592 ns | 364.4874 ns | 23,759.001 ns | 3.26 | 0.08 | 12.6343 | - | - | 40096 B |
// * Hints *
Outliers
Benchmarks.ToArray(): Default -> 2 outliers were removed (35.20 ns, 35.29 ns)
Benchmarks.ToArray(): Default -> 2 outliers were removed (38.51 ns, 38.88 ns)
Benchmarks.ToList(): Default -> 1 outlier was removed (64.69 ns)
Benchmarks.ToArray(): Default -> 1 outlier was removed (67.02 ns)
Benchmarks.ToArray(): Default -> 1 outlier was removed (130.08 ns)
Benchmarks.ToArray(): Default -> 1 outlier was detected (541.82 ns)
Benchmarks.ToArray(): Default -> 1 outlier was removed (7.82 us)
// * Legends *
Count : Value of the 'Count' parameter
Mean : Arithmetic mean of all measurements
Error : Half of 99.9% confidence interval
StdDev : Standard deviation of all measurements
Median : Value separating the higher half of all measurements (50th percentile)
Ratio : Mean of the ratio distribution ([Current]/[Baseline])
RatioSD : Standard deviation of the ratio distribution ([Current]/[Baseline])
Gen 0 : GC Generation 0 collects per 1000 operations
Gen 1 : GC Generation 1 collects per 1000 operations
Gen 2 : GC Generation 2 collects per 1000 operations
Allocated : Allocated memory per single operation (managed only, inclusive, 1KB = 1024B)
1 ns : 1 Nanosecond (0.00000000Best Answerec)
