Which is faster? ByVal or ByRef?

Question

In VB.NET, which is faster to use for method arguments, ByVal or ByRef?

Also, which consumes more resources at runtime (RAM)?

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Answer 1

My curiosity was to check the different behaviours depending object and memory usages

The result seems demostrate that ByVal always wins, the resource depends if collect memory or less (4.5.1 only)

Public Structure rStruct
    Public v1 As Integer
    Public v2 As String
End Structure

Public Class tClass
    Public v1 As Integer
    Public v2 As String
End Class



Public Sub Method1(ByRef s As String)
    Dim c As String = s
End Sub

Public Sub Method2(ByVal s As String)
    Dim c As String = s
End Sub

Public Sub Method3(ByRef i As Integer)
    Dim x As Integer = i
End Sub

Public Sub Method4(ByVal i As Integer)
    Dim x As Integer = i
End Sub

Public Sub Method5(ByVal st As rStruct)
    Dim x As rStruct = st
End Sub

Public Sub Method6(ByRef st As rStruct)
    Dim x As rStruct = st
End Sub


Public Sub Method7(ByVal cs As tClass)
    Dim x As tClass = cs
End Sub

Public Sub Method8(ByRef cs As tClass)
    Dim x As tClass = cs
End Sub
Sub DoTest()

    Dim s As String = "Hello World!"
    Dim cs As New tClass
    cs.v1 = 1
    cs.v2 = s
    Dim rt As New rStruct
    rt.v1 = 1
    rt.v2 = s
    Dim k As Integer = 5




    ListBox1.Items.Add("BEGIN")

    Dim t As New Stopwatch
    Dim gt As New Stopwatch

    If CheckBox1.Checked Then
        ListBox1.Items.Add("Using Garbage Collection")
        System.Runtime.GCSettings.LargeObjectHeapCompactionMode = System.Runtime.GCLargeObjectHeapCompactionMode.CompactOnce
        GC.Collect()
        GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()
        GC.Collect()
        GC.GetTotalMemory(False)
    End If

    Dim d As Double = GC.GetTotalMemory(False)

    ListBox1.Items.Add("Free Memory:   " & d)

    gt.Start()
    t.Reset()
    t.Start()
    For i As Integer = 0 To 100000000
        Method1(s)
    Next
    t.Stop()

    ListBox1.Items.Add("Reference Type - ByRef " & t.ElapsedMilliseconds)

    t.Reset()
    t.Start()
    For i As Integer = 0 To 100000000
        Method2(s)
    Next
    t.Stop()

    ListBox1.Items.Add("Reference Type - ByVal " & t.ElapsedMilliseconds)

    t.Reset()
    t.Start()
    For i As Integer = 0 To 100000000
        Method3(i)
    Next
    t.Stop()

    ListBox1.Items.Add("Value Type - ByRef " & t.ElapsedMilliseconds)

    t.Reset()
    t.Start()
    For i As Integer = 0 To 100000000
        Method4(i)
    Next
    t.Stop()

    ListBox1.Items.Add("Value Type - ByVal " & t.ElapsedMilliseconds)

    t.Reset()
    t.Start()

    For i As Integer = 0 To 100000000
        Method5(rt)
    Next
    t.Stop()

    ListBox1.Items.Add("Structure Type - ByVal " & t.ElapsedMilliseconds)

    t.Reset()
    t.Start()

    For i As Integer = 0 To 100000000
        Method6(rt)
    Next
    t.Stop()

    ListBox1.Items.Add("Structure Type - ByRef " & t.ElapsedMilliseconds)

    t.Reset()
    t.Start()

    For i As Integer = 0 To 100000000
        Method7(cs)
    Next
    t.Stop()

    ListBox1.Items.Add("Class Type - ByVal " & t.ElapsedMilliseconds)

    t.Reset()
    t.Start()

    For i As Integer = 0 To 100000000
        Method8(cs)
    Next
    t.Stop()
    gt.Stop()

    ListBox1.Items.Add("Class Type - ByRef " & t.ElapsedMilliseconds)
    ListBox1.Items.Add("Total time " & gt.ElapsedMilliseconds)
    d = GC.GetTotalMemory(True) - d
    ListBox1.Items.Add("Total Memory Heap consuming (bytes)" & d)


    ListBox1.Items.Add("END")

End Sub


Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click


    DoTest()

End Sub