When should I use a List vs a LinkedList

Question

When is it better to use a List vs a LinkedList?

Answer 1

This is adapted from Tono Nam's accepted answer correcting a few wrong measurements in it.

The test:

static void Main()
{
    LinkedListPerformance.AddFirst_List(); // 12028 ms
    LinkedListPerformance.AddFirst_LinkedList(); // 33 ms

    LinkedListPerformance.AddLast_List(); // 33 ms
    LinkedListPerformance.AddLast_LinkedList(); // 32 ms

    LinkedListPerformance.Enumerate_List(); // 1.08 ms
    LinkedListPerformance.Enumerate_LinkedList(); // 3.4 ms

    //I tried below as fun exercise - not very meaningful, see code
    //sort of equivalent to insertion when having the reference to middle node

    LinkedListPerformance.AddMiddle_List(); // 5724 ms
    LinkedListPerformance.AddMiddle_LinkedList1(); // 36 ms
    LinkedListPerformance.AddMiddle_LinkedList2(); // 32 ms
    LinkedListPerformance.AddMiddle_LinkedList3(); // 454 ms

    Environment.Exit(-1);
}

And the code:

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;

namespace stackoverflow
{
    static class LinkedListPerformance
    {
        class Temp
        {
            public decimal A, B, C, D;

            public Temp(decimal a, decimal b, decimal c, decimal d)
            {
                A = a; B = b; C = c; D = d;
            }
        }



        static readonly int start = 0;
        static readonly int end = 123456;
        static readonly IEnumerable query = Enumerable.Range(start, end - start).Select(temp);

        static Temp temp(int i)
        {
            return new Temp(i, i, i, i);
        }

        static void StopAndPrint(this Stopwatch watch)
        {
            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine(watch.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds);
        }

        public static void AddFirst_List()
        {
            var list = new List();
            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();

            for (var i = start; i < end; i++)
                list.Insert(0, temp(i));

            watch.StopAndPrint();
        }

        public static void AddFirst_LinkedList()
        {
            var list = new LinkedList();
            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();

            for (int i = start; i < end; i++)
                list.AddFirst(temp(i));

            watch.StopAndPrint();
        }

        public static void AddLast_List()
        {
            var list = new List();
            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();

            for (var i = start; i < end; i++)
                list.Add(temp(i));

            watch.StopAndPrint();
        }

        public static void AddLast_LinkedList()
        {
            var list = new LinkedList();
            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();

            for (int i = start; i < end; i++)
                list.AddLast(temp(i));

            watch.StopAndPrint();
        }

        public static void Enumerate_List()
        {
            var list = new List(query);
            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();

            foreach (var item in list)
            {

            }

            watch.StopAndPrint();
        }

        public static void Enumerate_LinkedList()
        {
            var list = new LinkedList(query);
            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();

            foreach (var item in list)
            {

            }

            watch.StopAndPrint();
        }

        //for the fun of it, I tried to time inserting to the middle of 
        //linked list - this is by no means a realistic scenario! or may be 
        //these make sense if you assume you have the reference to middle node

        //insertion to the middle of list
        public static void AddMiddle_List()
        {
            var list = new List();
            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();

            for (var i = start; i < end; i++)
                list.Insert(list.Count / 2, temp(i));

            watch.StopAndPrint();
        }

        //insertion in linked list in such a fashion that 
        //it has the same effect as inserting into the middle of list
        public static void AddMiddle_LinkedList1()
        {
            var list = new LinkedList();
            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();

            LinkedListNode evenNode = null, oddNode = null;
            for (int i = start; i < end; i++)
            {
                if (list.Count == 0)
                    oddNode = evenNode = list.AddLast(temp(i));
                else
                    if (list.Count % 2 == 1)
                        oddNode = list.AddBefore(evenNode, temp(i));
                    else
                        evenNode = list.AddAfter(oddNode, temp(i));
            }

            watch.StopAndPrint();
        }

        //another hacky way
        public static void AddMiddle_LinkedList2()
        {
            var list = new LinkedList();
            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();

            for (var i = start + 1; i < end; i += 2)
                list.AddLast(temp(i));
            for (int i = end - 2; i >= 0; i -= 2)
                list.AddLast(temp(i));

            watch.StopAndPrint();
        }

        //OP's original more sensible approach, but I tried to filter out
        //the intermediate iteration cost in finding the middle node.
        public static void AddMiddle_LinkedList3()
        {
            var list = new LinkedList();
            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();

            for (var i = start; i < end; i++)
            {
                if (list.Count == 0)
                    list.AddLast(temp(i));
                else
                {
                    watch.Stop();
                    var curNode = list.First;
                    for (var j = 0; j < list.Count / 2; j++)
                        curNode = curNode.Next;
                    watch.Start();

                    list.AddBefore(curNode, temp(i));
                }
            }

            watch.StopAndPrint();
        }
    }
}

---

You can see the results are in accordance with theoretical performance others have documented here. Quite clear - LinkedList gains big time in case of insertions. I haven't tested for removal from the middle of list, but the result should be the same. Of course List has other areas where it performs way better like O(1) random access.