Collection Classes (C# Programming Guide)

The .NET Framework provides specialized classes for data storage and retrieval. These classes provide support for stacks, queues, lists, and hash tables. Most collection classes implement the same interfaces, and these interfaces may be inherited to create new collection classes that fit more specialized data storage needs.

ArrayList list = new ArrayList();
list.Add(10);
list.Add(20);

Collection Classes Overview

Collection Classes have the following properties

• Collection classes are defined as part of the System.Collections or System.Collections.Generic namespace.

• Most collection classes derive from the interfaces ICollection, IComparer, IEnumerable, IList, IDictionary, and IDictionaryEnumerator and their generic equivalents.

• Generic collection classes provide increased type-safety and in some cases can provide better performance, especially when they store value types. For more information, see Benefits of Generics (C# Programming Guide).

Related Sections

• When to Use Generic Collections

• Collections and Data Structures

• Selecting a Collection Class

• Comparisons and Sorts Within Collections

• Creating and Manipulating Collections

• How to: Access a Collection Class with foreach (C# Programming Guide)

See Also

Reference

Arrays (C# Programming Guide)

Concepts

C# Programming Guide

Other Resources

Collections Best Practices