Good way to get the key of the highest value of a Dictionary in C#

Question

I\'m trying to get the key of the maximum value in the Dictionary results.

This is what I have so far:

double max          


        

Answer 1

After reading various suggestions, I decided to benchmark them and share the results.

The code tested:

// TEST 1

for (int i = 0; i < 999999; i++)
{
  KeyValuePair bestMove1 = possibleMoves.First();
  foreach (KeyValuePair move in possibleMoves)
  {
    if (move.Value > bestMove1.Value) bestMove1 = move;
  }
}

// TEST 2

for (int i = 0; i < 999999; i++)
{
  KeyValuePair bestMove2 = possibleMoves.Aggregate((a, b) => a.Value > b.Value ? a : b);
}

// TEST 3

for (int i = 0; i < 999999; i++)
{
  KeyValuePair bestMove3 = (from move in possibleMoves orderby move.Value descending select move).First();
}

// TEST 4

for (int i = 0; i < 999999; i++)
{
  KeyValuePair bestMove4 = possibleMoves.OrderByDescending(entry => entry.Value).First();
}

The results:

Average Seconds Test 1 = 2.6
Average Seconds Test 2 = 4.4
Average Seconds Test 3 = 11.2
Average Seconds Test 4 = 11.2

This is just to give an idea of their relative performance.

If your optimizing 'foreach' is fastest, but LINQ is compact and flexible.