Is List a linked list?

Question

Is System.Collections.Generic.List a type of linked list(not the LinkedList class)?

A linked

Answer 1

List<T>, from a... technical perspective, is NOT a type of linked list.

If you want to have a linked list in C# :

• either use the built-in LinkedList<T> type (for double-linked lists)
• or create an implementation of your own (if you want a singly-linked one) - here's an example

Answer 2

No, List<T> is backed by an array - it's essentially a generic version of ArrayList from .NET 1.0. From the docs:

The List<T> class is the generic equivalent of the ArrayList class. It implements the IList<T> generic interface using an array whose size is dynamically increased as required.

Note that due to being backed by an array, its access via indexers is O(1) as opposed to the O(N) for a linked list.

If you want a linked list, use LinkedList<T>. Note that this is a doubly-linked list. I don't believe .NET exposes a singly-linked list type.