Does an empty array in .NET use any space?

Question

I have some code where I\'m returning an array of objects.

Here\'s a simplified example:

string[] GetTheStuff() {
    List s = null;
             


        

Answer 1

Declared arrays will always have to contain the following information:

• Rank (number of dimensions)
• Type to be contained
• Length of each dimension

This would most likely be trivial, but for higher numbers of dimensions and higher lengths it will have a performance impact on loops.

As for return types, I agree that an empty array should be returned instead of null.

More information here: Array Types in .NET