Why is Enumerable.Range faster than a direct yield loop?

c#, enumerable, ienumerable, performance, range

Solution

Why should `Enumerable.Range` be any slower than your self-made `GetIntRange`? In fact, if `Enumerable.Range` were defined as

public static class Enumerable {
    public static IEnumerable<int> Range(int start, int count) {
        var end = start + count;
        for(var current = start; current < end; ++current) {
            yield return current;
        }
    }
}

then it should be exactly as fast as your self-made `GetIntRange`. This is in fact the reference implementation for `Enumerable.Range`, absent any tricks on the part of the compiler or programmer.

You may want to compare your `GetIntRange` and `System.Linq.Enumerable.Range` with the following implementation (of course, compile in release mode, as Rob points out). This implementation may be slightly optimized with respect to what a compiler would generate from an iterator block.

public static class Enumerable {
    public static IEnumerable<int> Range(int start, int count) {
        return new RangeEnumerable(start, count);
    }
    private class RangeEnumerable : IEnumerable<int> {
        private int _Start;
        private int _Count;
        public RangeEnumerable(int start, int count) {
            _Start = start;
            _Count = count;
        }
        public virtual IEnumerator<int> GetEnumerator() {
            return new RangeEnumerator(_Start, _Count);
        }
        IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator() {
            return GetEnumerator();
        }
    }
    private class RangeEnumerator : IEnumerator<int> {
        private int _Current;
        private int _End;
        public RangeEnumerator(int start, int count) {
            _Current = start - 1;
            _End = start + count;
        }
        public virtual void Dispose() {
            _Current = _End;
        }
        public virtual void Reset() {
            throw new NotImplementedException();
        }
        public virtual bool MoveNext() {
            ++_Current;
            return _Current < _End;
        }
        public virtual int Current { get { return _Current; } }
        object IEnumerator.Current { get { return Current; } }
    }
}

Problem

Original source