kevinblumenfeld · December 6, 2024 23:45 · Mar 9, 2018 · Mar 9, 2018 · Mar 9, 2018 · Mar 9, 2018
diff --git a/Types.md b/Types.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Credit: Mark Krauss  
+Credit: Mark Kraus   
 Website: https://get-powershellblog.blogspot.com  
 # Collection Type Guidence
 ## When to use what

diff --git a/Types.md b/Types.md
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-Credit: Mark Krauss
-Website: https://get-powershellblog.blogspot.com
+Credit: Mark Krauss  
+Website: https://get-powershellblog.blogspot.com  
 # Collection Type Guidence
 ## When to use what
 * Use Arrays if you know the element types and have a fixed length and/or known-up-front collection size that will not change.

diff --git a/Types.md b/Types.md
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+Credit: Mark Krauss
+Website: https://get-powershellblog.blogspot.com
 # Collection Type Guidence
 ## When to use what
 * Use Arrays if you know the element types and have a fixed length and/or known-up-front collection size that will not change.

diff --git a/Types.md b/Types.md
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+# Collection Type Guidence
+## When to use what
+* Use Arrays if you know the element types and have a fixed length and/or known-up-front collection size that will not change.
+* Use ArrayList if you have an unkown collection size with either unknown or mixed type elements.
+* Use a Generic List<t> when know the type of the elements but not the size of the collection. 
+* Use a HashTable if you are going to do key based lookups on a collection and don't know the object type of the elements. 
+* Use a Dictionary<TKey, TValue> you are going to do key based lookups on a collection and you know the type of the elements. 
+* Use a HashSet<t> when you know the type of elements and just want unique values and quick lookups and assignmnets.
+* Use LinkList<t> if you are going to make large numbers of additions and subtractions to an ordered list (and have the understanding to use this type)
+* Use Queue<t> if you will build a collection that will need to be worked on First-in-first-out FIFO
+* Use Stack<t> if you will build a collection that will need to be worked Last-in-first-out LIFO
+* Use SortedSet<T> when you need a HasSet<t> like set, but sorted (alaphbetically, for example)
+* Use SortedList<t> when you need a List<t>, but sorted (alaphbetically, for example)
+* Use SortedDictionary<TKey, TValue> when you need a Dictionary<TKey, TValue>, but sorted (alaphbetically, for example)
+
+## Avoid the following:
+* Do not use Object[]
+* Do not use += on Arrays. If your collection will grow or shrink, use ArrayList or List<t>
+* Do not use List<Object> for value types (int32, int64, char, etc)
+* avoid using Arrays, Lists, and ArrayLists for lookup/search operations, use ditcionaries and sets instead
+* Linked lists should only be considered in rediculously high volume add/remove operations to a list as the code complexity is too much for PowerShell
+* Only use "sorted" types when you really need to. If you only need it for reconstituion, sorting the keys and then foreaching them can work on small collections
+
+## Examples
+### Arrays
+https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.array?view=netframework-4.7.1
+string array:
+```powershell
+$Array = [string[]]@('string1','string2')
+```
+Int array:
+```powershell
+$Array = [int[]]@(1,2,3,4,5)
+```
+### ArrayList
+https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.collections.arraylist?view=netframework-4.7.1
+```powershell
+$ArrayList = [System.Collections.ArrayList]::new()
+$null = $ArrayList.Add(1)
+$null = $ArrayList.Add('String1')
+```
+### List<t>
+https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.collections.generic.list-1?view=netframework-4.7.1
+String:
+```powershell
+$List = [System.Collections.Generic.List[String]]::new()
+$List.Add('String1')
+$List.Add('String2')
+```
+Int:
+```powershell
+$List = [System.Collections.Generic.List[Int]]::new()
+$List.Add(1)
+$List.Add(2)
+```
+### Hashtable
+https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.collections.hashtable?view=netframework-4.7.1
+```powershell
+$HashTable = @{
+    Key1 = "Value1"
+    Key2 = "Value2"
+}
+```
+### Dictionary
+https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.collections.generic.dictionary-2?view=netframework-4.7.1
+Case Sensitive (default)
+```powershell
+$Dictionary = [System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[String,String]]::New()
+$Dictionary['key1'] = 'Value1'
+$Dictionary['key2'] = 'Value2'
+# Is case sensitiveby default:
+$Dictionary['Key2'] = 'Value3'
+```
+Case Insensitive:
+```powershell
+$Comparer = [System.StringComparer]::InvariantCultureIgnoreCase
+$Dictionary = [System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[String,String]]::New($Comparer)
+$Dictionary['key1'] = 'Value1'
+$Dictionary['key2'] = 'Value2'
+# Will repllace the key above
+$Dictionary['Key2'] = 'Value3'
+```
+Example using processes and looking them up by PID:
+```powershell
+$ProcessDict = [System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[int,System.Diagnostics.Process]]::new()
+Get-Process | ForEach-Object {
+    $ProcessDict[$_.Id] = $_
+}
+$ProcessDict[0] | format-list *
+```
+