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Performance optimization in C# or any programming language for that matter is an iterative process. It is a good practice to always profile your application before and after optimizing.

To identify the best areas to optimize in your C# code, you have to be familiar with the common performance bottlenecks and have knowledge of the specific use case and the platform.

C# Performance optimization

Performance optimization can be a complex task that involves understanding the specific requirements of your application and the underlying platform, as well as having a good understanding of the C# language and the common performance bottlenecks.

Performance optimization in C# involves a variety of techniques and practices that can be used to improve the performance of C# applications.

A few of the common performance optimization techniques for the C# program include

Profiling

Profiling is the process of measuring the performance of your application and identifying bottlenecks. There are several profilers available for C# such as Microsoft’s built-in Performance Profiler, JetBrains dotTrace, and ANTS Performance Profiler.

Algorithm optimization

This involves analyzing the algorithms used in your application and identifying opportunities for optimization. This can include techniques such as caching, lazy loading, and reducing the number of function calls.

Memory management

Managing memory efficiently is important for performance. This includes using the Garbage Collector (GC) effectively, avoiding memory leaks, and using value types instead of reference types where appropriate.

Parallel and concurrent programming

By using the Task Parallel Library (TPL) or async/await patterns, it is possible to take advantage of multiple processors or cores to improve performance.

Precompilation

By precompiling code, it is possible to improve the performance of an application by reducing the time it takes to compile the code.

Caching

Caching is a technique that stores the results of an operation so that they can be reused in the future. Caching is widely used in different scenarios and it’s easy to implement.

String Concatenation

Using string interpolation or StringBuilder instead of concatenating strings using the + operator can improve performance.

Avoiding Unnecessary Boxing and Unboxing

Boxing and unboxing are operations that convert value types to reference types and vice versa. These operations can be expensive in terms of performance, so it is best to avoid them where possible.

There are many more apart from the points mentioned above. The best approach always is to check performance points before including any coding feature. C# is evolving too fast and many high-performant features are introduced in every new release. Keep an eye on them and incorporate them as and when suitable.

Use Sealed Class to Improve Performance

By including the sealed keyword in a class that is not extended by other classes, we will notice a noticeable performance improvement. The JIT (Just in Time) compiler can directly determine the object’s true data type if it is a sealed class. But in the case of unsealed classes, JIT must determine whether unsealed classes have subclasses or not.

A class cannot be inherited by other classes by using the sealed keyword as a modifier. So use the sealed keyword for classes that not needed to be inherited by other classes.

Summary

In this post, we looked into the performance optimization of C#. When developing an application, performance should be of the highest priority. You can check C# Performance Programming by Paul Glavich and Chris Farrell on how to optimize the performance of C# applications, including how to use profilers and performance analysis tools, and how to apply performance optimization techniques.

Hope you found this article useful.