C# Collections
A group of objects is represented by a collection in C#, which is also used to perform different operations on objects which are listed below:
- store object
- update object
- delete object
- retrieve object
- search object, and
- sort object
Thus the C# collections perform all the data structure work. Just like an array, a collection can also be used to store objects with an advantage over an array. In a collection, the stored object can grow or shrink dynamically, however, in an array, there is a size limit.
Types of Collections:
To work with the collections in C#, one can use any of the three namespaces that are listed below:
- System.Collections.Generic classes
- System.Collections classes (Now deprecated)
- System.Collections.Concurrent classes
System.Collections.Generic classes:
The classes of the System.Collections.Generic namespace are listed below:
- List
- Stack
- Queue
- LinkedList
- HashSet
- SortedSet
- Dictionary
- SortedDictionary
- SortedList
System.Collections classes:
The classes of the System.Collections namespace are legacy. The System.Collections.Generic classes are now recommended to be used. The classes of the System.Collections namespace are listed below:
- ArrayList
- Stack
- Queue
- Hashtable
System.Collections.Concurrent classes:
The classes for thread-safe operations are facilitated by the System.Collections.Concurrent namespace. Thus, while accessing the collection items, the multiple threads do not create a problem. The classes of the System.Collections.Concurrent namespace are listed below:
- BlockingCollection
- ConcurrentBag
- ConcurrentStack
- ConcurrentQueue
- ConcurrentDictionary
- Partitioner
- Partitioner
- OrderablePartitioner
