After writing multiple editions of my book Rock Your Code: Code & App Performance for Microsoft .NET, one thing has become very clear: performance in .NET is always evolving.

With every major release, the .NET team introduces new APIs, improves existing ones, and finds better ways to make applications faster, leaner, and more efficient. That is great news for developers, but it also means code that was once considered “the fastest way” might not stay that way forever.

That is one of the reasons I created the Fast methods in Spargine.

Any Spargine method that starts with Fast is designed with performance in mind. More importantly, the public method name and purpose stay consistent, while the internal implementation can evolve as .NET improves. That means your code can continue calling the same Spargine method, while Spargine can take advantage of newer, faster techniques behind the scenes.

With each major release of .NET, I pay special attention to these methods to ensure they stay as performant as possible. When the platform gets faster, Spargine should get faster too.

These methods are especially useful in hot paths, performance-sensitive code, reusable libraries, and places where small improvements can add up over time.

Methods

Below are the Spargine classes that currently include Fast methods, along with a description of what each method does.

ArrayExtentions

• FastHashData()
  Computes a fast SHA256 hash for the given byte array data.
• FastSelectItems(int startIndex, int count)
  Selects a range of items from the array using optimized ArraySegment slicing.
• FastClone()
  Clones the specified array.
• FastLongCount()
  Gets the total number of elements in the array.
• FastProcessor(Action<T> action)
  Processes each element in the array with the specified action using optimized memory access.

EnumerableExtensions

• FastContains(T searchItem, IComparer<T>? comparer)
  Performs a membership check using the most efficient strategy available for the underlying sequence.
• FastShuffle(int count)
  Shuffles the elements of the specified collection into a new collection with a specified count.
• FastShuffle()
  Randomizes the order of elements in the collection and returns a new sequence containing the shuffled items.
• FastProcessor(Action<T> action)
  Processes each item in the given collection using the specified action with optimized performance.
• FastProcessor(Func<T, T> action)
  Modifies each item in the given collection using the specified transformation function and returns a read-only collection of the modified items with optimized performance.
• FastLongCount()
  Counts the number of elements in the specified collection.
• FastLongCount(Func<T, bool> accumulatorPredicate)
  Counts the number of elements in the collection that satisfy a condition.
• FastAny(Func<T, bool> accumulatorPredicate)
  Determines whether any element of a sequence satisfies a condition.
• FastDistinct(IEqualityComparer<T>? comparer)
  Returns a sequence containing only the distinct elements from the source collection with size-based optimization.

ImmutableArrayExtensions

• FastShuffle()
  Shuffles the elements of the specified ImmutableArray.

ObjectExtensions

• FastHashCode()
  Provides an optimized method to compute a hash code for an object.
• FastClone<T>(JsonTypeInfo<T> typeInfo)
  Creates a deep clone of an object by serializing it into JSON and deserializing it back using the provided JsonTypeInfo.
• FastClone<T>(JsonSerializerOptions? options)
  Creates a deep clone of an object by serializing it into JSON and deserializing it back using the provided JsonSerializerOptions.
• FastClone<T>()
   Creates a deep clone of an object by serializing it into JSON and deserializing it back.
• FastBinaryClone<T>()
  Creates a deep clone using binary MessagePack.
• FastBinaryClone<T>(MessagePackSerializerOptions options)
  Creates a deep clone using binary MessagePack serialization with custom serializer options.

StringExtensions

• FastEquals(string value, string valueToCompare, StringComparison comparison)
  Performs a fast, allocation-free comparison between two strings using the specified StringComparison.
• FastIsNullOrEmpty(string input)
  Determines whether the specified string is null or empty in a fast manner.
• FastParseUrl(string url)
  Parses a URL string into its constituent components: scheme, host, port, and path.
• FastReplace(string input, string oldValue, string newValue)
  Performs a fast, culture-invariant replacement of all occurrences of oldValue with newValue using ordinal comparison.

ListExtensions

• FastCount()
  Counts the number of elements in the specified list.
• FastShuffle()
  Randomizes the order of elements in the current List and returns a new shuffled list.

Summary

Spargine’s Fast methods are designed to give your .NET projects a performance edge while keeping your code clean, readable, and stable.

The goal is simple: you call the same method, while Spargine keeps tuning the implementation as .NET evolves. When new platform features, runtime improvements, or better techniques become available, these methods will be updated without forcing you to rethink your application code.

These methods are a great fit for hot paths, reusable libraries, collection-heavy operations, cloning scenarios, string processing, and other areas where performance matters.

As always, I recommend benchmarking performance-sensitive code in your own applications. Every app is different, and the best way to know what rocks is to measure it.

I am always looking for ways to improve Spargine’s performance, so check back regularly to see what has been added or tuned. With each release, my goal is to keep Spargine helping developers write faster, cleaner, and more reliable .NET code.

Pick up any books by David McCarter by going to Amazon.com: http://bit.ly/RockYourCodeBooks

If you liked this article, please buy David a cup of Coffee by going here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dotnetdave

© The information in this article is copywritten and cannot be reproduced in any way without express permission from David McCarter.