[c#] C# Set collection?

Does anyone know if there is a good equivalent to Java's Set collection in C#? I know that you can somewhat mimic a set using a Dictionary or a HashTable by populating but ignoring the values, but that's not a very elegant way.

If you're using .NET 3.5, you can use HashSet<T>. It's true that .NET doesn't cater for sets as well as Java does though.

The Wintellect PowerCollections may help too.

I know this is an old thread, but I was running into the same problem and found HashSet to be very unreliable because given the same seed, GetHashCode() returned different codes. So, I thought, why not just use a List and hide the add method like this

public class UniqueList<T> : List<T>
{
    public new void Add(T obj)
    {
        if(!Contains(obj))
        {
            base.Add(obj);
        }
    }
}

Because List uses the Equals method solely to determine equality, you can define the Equals method on your T type to make sure you get the desired results.

I use Iesi.Collections http://www.codeproject.com/KB/recipes/sets.aspx

It's used in lot of OSS projects, I first came across it in NHibernate

If you're using .NET 3.5, you can use HashSet<T>. It's true that .NET doesn't cater for sets as well as Java does though.

The Wintellect PowerCollections may help too.

Have a look at PowerCollections over at CodePlex. Apart from Set and OrderedSet it has a few other usefull collection types such as Deque, MultiDictionary, Bag, OrderedBag, OrderedDictionary and OrderedMultiDictionary.

For more collections, there is also the C5 Generic Collection Library.

If you're using .NET 4.0 or later:

In the case where you need sorting then use SortedSet<T>. Otherwise if you don't, then use HashSet<T> since it's O(1) for search and manipulate operations. Whereas SortedSet<T> is O(log n) for search and manipulate operations.

Have a look at PowerCollections over at CodePlex. Apart from Set and OrderedSet it has a few other usefull collection types such as Deque, MultiDictionary, Bag, OrderedBag, OrderedDictionary and OrderedMultiDictionary.

For more collections, there is also the C5 Generic Collection Library.

I use a wrapper around a Dictionary<T, object>, storing nulls in the values. This gives O(1) add, lookup and remove on the keys, and to all intents and purposes acts like a set.

I use Iesi.Collections http://www.codeproject.com/KB/recipes/sets.aspx

It's used in lot of OSS projects, I first came across it in NHibernate

If you're using .NET 3.5, you can use HashSet<T>. It's true that .NET doesn't cater for sets as well as Java does though.

The Wintellect PowerCollections may help too.

Have a look at PowerCollections over at CodePlex. Apart from Set and OrderedSet it has a few other usefull collection types such as Deque, MultiDictionary, Bag, OrderedBag, OrderedDictionary and OrderedMultiDictionary.

For more collections, there is also the C5 Generic Collection Library.

I use a wrapper around a Dictionary<T, object>, storing nulls in the values. This gives O(1) add, lookup and remove on the keys, and to all intents and purposes acts like a set.

I know this is an old thread, but I was running into the same problem and found HashSet to be very unreliable because given the same seed, GetHashCode() returned different codes. So, I thought, why not just use a List and hide the add method like this

public class UniqueList<T> : List<T>
{
    public new void Add(T obj)
    {
        if(!Contains(obj))
        {
            base.Add(obj);
        }
    }
}

Because List uses the Equals method solely to determine equality, you can define the Equals method on your T type to make sure you get the desired results.

If you're using .NET 4.0 or later:

In the case where you need sorting then use SortedSet<T>. Otherwise if you don't, then use HashSet<T> since it's O(1) for search and manipulate operations. Whereas SortedSet<T> is O(log n) for search and manipulate operations.

Have a look at PowerCollections over at CodePlex. Apart from Set and OrderedSet it has a few other usefull collection types such as Deque, MultiDictionary, Bag, OrderedBag, OrderedDictionary and OrderedMultiDictionary.

For more collections, there is also the C5 Generic Collection Library.