Question

For the following datatable column, what is the fastest way to get the min and max values?

AccountLevel  
0  
1  
2  
3 

Answer 1

int minAccountLevel = int.MaxValue;
int maxAccountLevel = int.MinValue;
foreach (DataRow dr in table.Rows)
{
    int accountLevel = dr.Field<int>("AccountLevel");
    minAccountLevel = Math.Min(minAccountLevel, accountLevel);
    maxAccountLevel = Math.Max(maxAccountLevel, accountLevel);
}

Yes, this really is the fastest way. Using the Linq Min and Max extensions will always be slower because you have to iterate twice. You could potentially use Linq Aggregate, but the syntax isn’t going to be much prettier than this already is.