Why is Dictionary Preferred Over Hashtable in C#?

C# Dictionary vs. Hashtable: Why Dictionary is Favored

Both Dictionary and Hashtable store key-value pairs, but Dictionary is the preferred choice in C# for several compelling reasons:

1. Enhanced Type Safety:

• Dictionary: Employs generics, ensuring strict type checking for keys and values, preventing runtime type errors.
• Hashtable: Lacks type safety, potentially leading to type-related issues during execution.

2. Superior Performance:

• Dictionary: Generally boasts better performance due to its optimized hash table implementation.
• Hashtable: While functional, it might exhibit slower performance, especially when type conversions are needed.

3. Improved Usability:

• Dictionary: Offers a cleaner, more intuitive syntax, simplifying dictionary usage.
• Hashtable: Its syntax is more verbose and complex, potentially increasing development time.

4. Greater Flexibility:

• Dictionary: Accepts any data type for keys and values, offering greater versatility.
• Hashtable: Restricts keys to objects and values to unboxed value types or strings.

Implementation Details:

It's noteworthy that the .NET Framework's Dictionary implementation is rooted in Hashtable, as indicated in its source code comments:

<code>// The generic Dictionary was copied from Hashtable's source</code>

This highlights that Dictionary builds upon Hashtable's performance and underlying structure while presenting a significantly improved and more modern API.

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