Short presentation containing tips and tricks on how to make C# apps to perform very well.

1. Achieving
Performance in
C#
Roman Atachiants

2. Contents
• Introduction
• Memory Management
• Flow and Control Structures
• Data Structures
• Function Calls
• Questions

3. Introduction
“Premature optimization is the root of all evil”
Prof. Donald Knuth

4. Software
• Correct
• Maintainable
• Fast

5. When & Where
• One should not optimize everything prematurely
• One should keep in mind good programming practices
• One should evaluate the

6. The Secret
Not to do ANY work.

7. Memory Management
“The memory management on PowerPC can be used to frighten small
children”
Linus Torvalds

8. GC
• The .NET Framework uses automatic garbage collection to
manage memory for all applications.
Memory for an
Object’s object is
memory is freed allocated from
(collected) the managed
some time later heap when you
call new
Object dies tu to
all its references
Object
either being
constructor is
explicitly set to
called
null or going out
of scope
Object is used
for some time

9. Assemblies
• Prefer single large assemblies rather than multiple smaller
assemblies
• Overhead:
o The cost of loading metadata for smaller assemblies
o Touching various memory pages in pre-compiled images in the CLR in order to load
the assembly (Ngen)
o JIT compile time
o Security checks
• Sometimes you cannot avoid splitting assemblies; for
example, for versioning and deployment reasons. If you
need to ship types separately, you may need separate
assemblies.

10. Memory
• Allocation:
o Is super fast!
• Free:
o Is super slow!
• You want to avoid freeing memory. The easiest way to do
so is not to allocate in the first place.

11. Reuse Memory
• Do not use a new in a loop
for (int i = 0; i < 100; ++i) unless you really need to.
{
var numbers = new int[10];
// (...) Do something with numbers
Console.WriteLine(numbers.Sum());
}
var numbers = new int[10];
for (int i = 0; i < 100; ++i)
{
// (...) Do something with numbers
Console.WriteLine(numbers.Sum());
}

12. Object Pools
public sealed class ScriptBuilder : RecyclableObject • Object Pooling is
{
... something that tries to
}
keep a pool of objects in
public sealed class ScriptBuilderPool : memory to be re-used
ConcurrentPool<ScriptBuilder>
{ later and hence it will
public static readonly ScriptBuilderPool Default =
new ScriptBuilderPool(); reduce the load of object
public ScriptBuilderPool() :
creation to a great extent
base("ScriptBuilders", _ => new ScriptBuilder()){ }
} • Object Pool is nothing but
using (var obj = ScriptBuilderPool.Default.Acquire()) a container of objects
{
// Do stuff
that are ready for use
}

13. Class Design
• Do not make classes thread safe by default.
• Consider using the sealed keyword.
• Consider the tradeoffs of virtual members.
• Consider using overloaded methods.
• Consider overriding the Equals method for value types.
• Know the cost of accessing a property.
• Consider private vs. public member variables.
• Limit the use of volatile fields.

14. Class vs Struct
• Class
o A reference type
o Lives in the heap
o Slower
• Struct
o A value type
o Lives in the stack
o Faster
• … But, never use structs that are bigger than 16 bytes. Use
them wisely.

15. Threads
• Thread threads as a shared resource
o Do not create threads on a per-request basis because this can severely impact
scalability. Creating new threads is also a fairly expensive operation that should be
minimized. Treat threads as a shared resource and use the optimized .NET thread
pool.
• Locking is slow, avoid locking large portions of code
• Minimize thread creation
• Use the thread pool when you need threads
• Use a timer to schedule periodic tasks
• Never use Thread.Abort
• Never use Thread.Suspend or Thread.Resume

16. Flow & Control
“It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to students
that have had prior exposure to BASIC. As potential programmers, they are
mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.”
E. W. Dijkstra

17. For vs For..Each
• For and for .. each loops
foreach(var item in List)
are different:
{ o For each is less performant than a
// do something with item for loop
}
o For each creates garbage
int count = List.Length;
• Always prefer for loops for
for(int i=0; i < count; ++i)
{
critical code
var item = List[i];
// do something with item • Any idea why?
}

18. Switch vs If
Matching Non-
• A switch statement
Matching compiles to a different set
of instructions and
Switch 15,7 sec 0,0 sec optimized for fast state-
Statement
machines.
If 20,7 sec 0,1 sec
Statement • Because each case within a
switch statement does not
rely on earlier cases, the
compiler is able to re-order
the testing in such a way as
to provide the fastest
execution.
Reference: http://www.blackwasp.co.uk/SpeedTestIfElseSwitch_2.aspx

19. Exceptions
for (int i=0; i < 5000000; i++) • When an exception is
{ thrown, your application dies
try
{ a little bit
throw new ApplicationException();
} • Never throw exceptions in
catch (ApplicationException) order to control the flow of
{
} the application
}
• However, do not use error
codes because of concerns
that exceptions might affect
Total time taken: 00:00:42.0312500 performance negatively
Exceptions per millisecond: 118
• Consider using TryParse()
pattern
Reference: http://www.developerfusion.com/article/5250/exceptions-and-performance-in-net/

20. Data Structures
“Most software today is very much like an Egyptian pyramid with millions of
bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done
by brute force and thousands of slaves.”
Alan Kay

21. Strings
string BadConcatenate(string[] items)
• C# strings are immutable
string strRet = string.Empty;
foreach(string item in items) • Prefer String.Concat() to
{
strRet += item; String.Format()
}
return strRet; • StringBuilder is the only
}
way to have mutable
string GoodConcatenate(string[] items) strings, but still creates
{
var builder = new StringBuilder();
some garbage.
foreach(string item in items)
{
builder.Append(item);
}
return builder.ToString();
}

22. Collections
• Use the right type of the collection for your work
• Stop using List<T> for everything
• Ask yourself:
o Do you need to sort your collection?
o Do you need to search your collection?
o Do you need to access each element by index?
o Do you need a custom collection?

23. Collections
• Use the right type of the collection for your work
• Stop using List<T> for everything
• Ask yourself:
o Do you need to sort your collection?
• List<T> to bind read-only sorted data
• NameValueCollection for sorting strings
• SortedList<K,V> presorts while constructing
o Do you need to search your collection?
• Use Dictionary<K, V>
o Do you need to access each element by index?
• Use List<T>, Dictionary<K,V>, SortedList<K,V>
o Do you need a custom collection?
• Ask me, you probably don’t need it.

24. Arrays
// 2D array of 100 x 100 elements.
for (int a = 0; a < 100; a++) • Multidimensional Arrays [,]
{
for (int x = 0; x < 100; x++)
are slow.
{
int c = a1[a, x];
• Prefer jagged [][] arrays.
}
} • Arrays have a static size.
The size of the array
// Jagged array of 100 x 100
elements. remains fixed after initial
for (int a = 0; a < 100; a++)
{
allocation.
for (int x = 0; x < 100; x++)
{
int c = a2[a][x]; 2D array looping: 4571 ms
} Jagged array looping: 2864 ms [faster]
}
Reference: http://www.dotnetperls.com/regex-performance

25. RegEx
static Regex wordRegex = new • A regular expression is
Regex(@"W+", RegexOptions.Compiled);
essentially a state machine
static void Main()
{ • Always use
string s = "This is a simple /string/
for Regex.";
RegexOptions.Compiled if
string[] c = wordRegex.Split(s); you plan to reuse a regular
foreach (string m in c)
{ expression
Console.WriteLine(m);
} • RegexOptions.Compiled
}
takes 10x longer to
startup, but yields 30%
better runtime.
Reference: http://www.dotnetperls.com/regex-performance

26. Functions
“Controlling complexity is the essence of computer programming”
Brian Kernighan

27. Inline
• You want the compiler
to inline methods
public class MyClass{
protected virtual void SomeMethod() • Mark them as sealed
{ ... }
} • This code ends the chain
public class DerivedClass : MyClass {
of virtual overrides and
protected override sealed void makes DerivedClass.
SomeMethod () { ... }
} SomeMethod a
candidate for inlining

28. Copying Buffers
int[] arr1 = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
int[] arr2 = new int[10]; • Never copy buffers with a
// Copy the first twenty bytes from
loop, prefer
arr1 to arr2 Buffer.BlockCopy() or
Buffer.BlockCopy(arr1, 0, arr2, 0,
5 * sizeof(int) Array.Copy()
);

29. Recursion
private void RecursiveDir(string currentDir)
{ • Avoid recursion
foreach (var sin Directory.GetDirectories(dir))
RecursiveDir(s); • Most of the
foreach (var file in Directory.GetFiles(dir))
Console.WriteLine(file);
recursion can be
} converted to a tail-
private void IterativeDir(string startingDir) recursion
{
Stack stackFrame = new Stack(); • A tail-recursion is a
stackFrame.Push(startingDir);
while (stackFrame.Count > 0) simple loop
{
var current = (string) stackFrame.Pop();
foreach (var sin Directory.GetDirectories(current ))
stackFrame.Push(s);
foreach (var file in Directory.GetFiles(current))
Console.WriteLine(file);
}
}

30. More Tips (1)
• LINQ is slow, never use it if you need performance
• Never use reflection if you need performance
• Keep IO Buffer Size Between 4KB and 8KB
• Always use Asynchronous IO (Uses IOCP on Windows)
• ASP.NET: cache aggressively
• ASP.NET: use session state only if you need to
• ASP.NET: remove unnecessary HttpModules
• Experiment!

31. More Tips (2)
• Reduce boundary crossings (Unmanaged/Managed, Cross
Process, Cross AppDomain)
• Prefer single large assemblies
• Never use GC.Collect() unless you know what you are doing
• Do not implement Finalize unless required

32. Questions?
Thank you for your attention!