C# equivalent of C++ vector, with contiguous memory?

Question

What's the C# equivalent of C++ vector?

I am searching for this feature:

To have a dynamic array of contiguously stored memory that has no performance penalty for access vs. standard arrays.

I was searching and they say .NET equivalent to the vector in C++ is the ArrayList , so:

Do ArrayList have that contiguous memory feature?

Answer 1

You could use a List<T> and when T is a value type it will be allocated in contiguous memory which would not be the case if T is a reference type.

Example:

List<int> integers = new List<int>();
integers.Add(1);
integers.Add(4);
integers.Add(7);

int someElement = integers[1];

Answer 2

use List<T> . Internally it uses arrays and arrays do use contiguous memory.

Answer 3

First of all, stay away from Arraylist or Hashtable . Those classes are to be considered deprecated, in favor of generics. They are still in the language for legacy purposes.

Now, what you are looking for is the List<T> class. Note that if T is a value type you will have contiguos memory, but not if T is a reference type, for obvious reasons.

Answer 4

C# has a lot of reference types. Even if a container stores the references contiguously, the objects themselves may be scattered through the heap

Answer 5

It looks like CLR / C# might be getting better support for Vector<> soon.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/archive/2014/04/07/the-jit-finally-proposed-jit-and-simd-are-getting-married.aspx