High-Performance Text Processing
Explore how Span<T> and ReadOnlySpan<T> enable high-performance string manipulation by eliminating unnecessary memory allocations.
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Standard string operations like Substring(), Split(), or Replace() always create a completely new string object in memory. While convenient, frequent allocations increase memory pressure and trigger garbage collection (GC) overhead in high-throughput text processing applications.
Modern .NET provides Span<T> and ReadOnlySpan<T> to address these performance bottlenecks. These types allow you to work with a “window” or “slice” of existing data without copying it to a new location in memory.
Using ReadOnlySpan<char>
A ReadOnlySpan<char> acts as a lightweight view of a string. When you “slice” a span, you are simply creating a new view that points to the same memory addresses as the original string.