An in-depth look at C# 10 and performance improvements

Overview

The world of software development relies heavily on performance, and with the release of C# 10, there have been notable improvements aimed at improving application execution speed. During this article, we'll examine the performance improvements in C# 10 and discuss how they can improve your application's speed. We'll use code examples to illustrate these improvements.

Function Pointers and Performance

It allows for low-level manipulation of methods, resulting in reduced overhead during method invocation. C# 10 introduces function pointers to make method invocation more direct and efficient.

In the code example below, we declare a MathOperation delegate and use function pointers to directly reference Add and Subtract methods.

//Class name is ZiggyMath.cs

namespace ZiggyRafiq.CodeExamples;

public class ZiggyMath
{
    public delegate int MathOperation(int x, int y);
    public static int Add(int x, int y) => x + y;
    public static int Subtract(int x, int y) => x - y;

}

//Class Name is Program.cs

using static ZiggyRafiq.CodeExamples.ZiggyMath;

Console.WriteLine("Simple Code Example by Ziggy Rafiq, which is Clean Code");
// Using function pointers
MathOperation add = Add;
MathOperation subtract = Subtract;

Console.WriteLine($"Addition: {add(10, 15)}");
Console.WriteLine($"Subtraction: {subtract(10, 5)}");

Records and Value Semantics

A new feature of C# 10 is the support for value semantics in records. Records are lighter than classes, and they can help improve performance by reducing memory allocations.

In the code example below, we have a record that represents a pair of coordinates. The == comparison is automatically overridden to compare the values of the fields. This can provide better performance than reference-based comparisons.

//Class name is ZiggyPoint.cs

namespace ZiggyRafiq.CodeExamples;

public class ZiggyPoint
{
  public record Point(int X, int Y);
}

//Class name is Program.cs

using static ZiggyRafiq.CodeExamples.ZiggyPoint;

Console.WriteLine("Simple Code Example by Ziggy Rafiq, which is Clean Code");

Point p1 = new Point(1, 2);
Point p2 = new Point(1, 2);

Console.WriteLine($"Are points equal? {p1 == p2}"); // True

Pattern Matching Improvements

In C# 10, pattern matching has been enhanced to be more efficient and expressive. The improved pattern matching can result in better performance in scenarios where pattern matching is heavily used.

As shown in the code example below, the pattern matching with is and && conditions allows for efficient type checking and parsing. This improved pattern-matching capability contributes to cleaner code and faster performance.

//Class name is Program.cs

object data = "Ziggy Rafiq Simple Code Object Example 123";

if (data is string str && int.TryParse(str, out int parsedInt)) 
    Console.WriteLine($"Parsed integer: {parsedInt}"); 
else 
    Console.WriteLine("Not a valid integer representation");

Summary

As part of C# 10, function pointers were introduced and value semantics with records were improved, as well as pattern matching was improved. C# applications execute more efficiently and faster as a result of these enhancements. As you embrace C# 10 in your projects, consider leveraging these features to optimise the performance of your applications and deliver a smoother user experience.

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