koobas.hobune.stream
What should I use, a Dictionary with 100 entries or a class with 100 variables?
Hello there!
In short: I have created an external .json database with around 100 variables. Now, I want to load the data to my game's start-up code (executed only once in program's lifetime). But to make any use of it, first i need to somehow store it in the memory. I see two ways of dealing with that: a class or a dictionary.
To better illustrate what I mean:
Aproach 1 - Dictionary
Dictionary<string, object> GetVariables(string fileName)
{
string text = Resources.Load<TextAsset>($"main/{fileName}").text;
VariableData json = JsonUtility.FromJson<VariableData>(text);
Dictionary<string, object> dictionary = new Dictionary<string, object>();
for (int i = 0; i < json.items.Length; i++)
{
dictionary.Add(json.items[i].variable, json.items[i].value);
}
return dictionary;
}
[System.Serializable]
class VariableData
{
public VariableItem[] items;
}
[System.Serializable]
class VariableItem
{
public string variable;
public string value;
}
This will return an Dictionary with all my 100 variables and values. To get the variable I need at the moment, I would simply have to write:
Dictionary<string,object> variables = GetVariables(defines);
int a = (int)variables["a"];
float b = (float)variables["b"];
Aproach 2 - Class
Variables GetVariables2(string fileName)
{
string text = Resources.Load<TextAsset>($"main/{fileName}").text;
return JsonUtility.FromJson<Variables>(text);
}
[System.Serializable]
class Variables
{
int a;
float b;
string c;
double d;
}
This will return an class with all 100 variables (here 4, but you get the idea). To get the variable I all I need to do is
Variables variables = GetVariables2(defines);
int a = variables.a;
float b = variables.b;
And here is my question: which aproach is better? Which one uses less memory, is faster etc.?
