Do C# Generics Have a Performance Benefit?

Question

I have a number of data classes representing various entities.

Which is better: writing a generic class (say, to print or output XML) using generics and interfaces,

Answer 1

if you compare a generic list (for example) to a specific list for exactly the type you use then the difference is minimal, the results from the JIT compiler are almost the same.

if you compare a generic list to a list of objects then there is significant benefits to the generic list - no boxing/unboxing for value types and no type checks for reference types.

also the generic collection classes in the .net library were heavily optimized and you are unlikely to do better yourself.