SortedList vs SortedDictionary vs Dictionary

Question

I have a large collection of small objects, each has a unique string ident. I need to decide which class to use.

MSDN says about the first two

The two classes have similar object models, and both have O(log n) retrieval. Where the two classes differ is in memory use and speed of insertion and removal

Since I rarely insert, mostly just retrieve it seems both are good for me. What about the plain old Dictionary?

Do you need the entries to be sorted? – Quintin Robinson Feb 28 '11 at 16:53 — Quintin Robinson, Feb 28 '11 at 16:53
No, not really. I just need really fast retrieval. – TDaver Feb 28 '11 at 16:56 — TDaver, Feb 28 '11 at 16:56

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 28 '11 at 16:55

4

Plain-old dictionary is the best option if you're not interested in sorting (since it's O(1) retrieval). If you're not going to modify the list much you should use SortedList since it uses less memory.

answered Feb 28 '11 at 16:55

Mark Sowul

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SortedList vs SortedDictionary vs Dictionary

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