Question

So, I need an array of items. And I was wondering which one would be the fastest/best to use (in c#), I’ll be doing to following things:

1. Adding elements at the end
2. Removing elements at the start
3. Looking at the first and last element (every frame)
4. Clearing it occasionally
5. Converting it to a normal array (not a list. I’m using iTween and it asks a normal array.) I’ll do this almost every frame.

So, what would be the best to use considering these things? Especially the last one, since I’m doing that every frame. Should I just use an array, or is there something else that converts very fast to array and also has easy adding/removing of elements at the start & end?

Answer 1

Requirements 1) and 2) point to a Queue<T>, it is the only standard collection optimized for these 2 operations.

3) You’ll need a little trickery for getting at the Last element, First is Peek().
4) is simple (.Clear())
5) The standard .ToArray() method will do this.

You will not escape copying all elements (O(n)) for item 5)