Is there any performance gain when using Indexer for Objects?

Question

Suppose if I have to make three objects for a class flyweight, what is the difference between making an object like this

flyweight f1=new flyweight();
flyweight f2=new flyweight();
flyweight f3=new flyweight();

and like this?

public class flyweight
{
    flyweight[] obj = new flyweight[3];
    public flyweight this[int index]
    {
        get{
            if (index < 3) {
                obj[index] = new flyweight();
            }
            return obj[index];
        }
    }
    public void display() {
        Console.WriteLine("this is a object");
    }
    public void load() {
        flyweight f = new flyweight();
        for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
            f[i].display();
        }
    }
}

Is there any performance gain when we use Indexer for creating objects?

Answer 1

An index property is compiled as a simple public flyweight get_Item(int index) method. Calling a method is not faster than accessing variables f1 , f2 and f3 directly (although I do not have proof for that).

If you optimize on this level, without evidence of performance issues, you'll probably end up with a slower application full of bugs because your application layout is a mess.

Answer 2

If anything you could use a double approach, using both instance variables and an array:

var f1 = new flyweight();
var f2 = new flyweight();
var f3 = new flyweight();
var flyweights = new[] { f1, f2, f3 };

This allows to use specific instances if you need to, and iterate over all of them where that might be useful.