What happened to Array.Sort() in .NET 4.0? Is TrySZSort() gone?

Question

I wonder why the following snippet does not give the expected result? It sorts a not too small random array and uses 3 different methods for it. I was expecting the speed to come out as so:

1. Array.Sort() - fastest by using the native TrySZSort function as I recall from .NET 2.0
2. Descending sort by using the custom Comparer class
3. The lambda expression sort.

The Code:

class DescComparer : IComparer<double> {
    // simple comparison 
    // (yes, its not exactly correct ...)
    public int Compare(double x, double y) {
        return (x > y) ? -1 : 1; 
    }
}
static void Main(string[] args) {
    Stopwatch sw = new Stopwatch(); 
    Random rand = new Random(); 
    DescComparer comparer = new DescComparer();
    double[] a = new double[1000000]; 
    for (int r = 0; r < 20; r++) {

        // init array
        for (int i = 0; i < a.Length; i++) a[i] = rand.NextDouble();  
        sw.Restart();
        Array.Sort(a);
        sw.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("ascending took: {0} ms ", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);

        // init array
        for (int i = 0; i < a.Length; i++) a[i] = rand.NextDouble();
        sw.Restart();
        Array.Sort<double>(a, comparer);
        sw.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("descending took: {0} ms ", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);

        // init array
        for (int i = 0; i < a.Length; i++) a[i] = rand.NextDouble();
        sw.Restart();
        Array.Sort<double>(a, (x,y) => -x.CompareTo(y));
        sw.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("desc lambda took: {0} ms ", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);

    }
    Console.Read(); 
}

But strangely, it gives the following:

ascending took: 514 ms
descending took: 537 ms
desc lambda took: 915 ms
ascending took: 511 ms
descending took: 492 ms
desc lambda took: 923 ms
ascending took: 511 ms
descending took: 483 ms
desc lambda took: 912 ms
ascending took: 511 ms
descending took: 485 ms
desc lambda took: 914 ms
ascending took: 518 ms
descending took: 485 ms
desc lambda took: 924 ms
... a.s.o. ...

So, the lambda really is slowest. But how comes, the plain ascending Array.Sort is not faster anymore? Is it, because Array.Sort(T[], Comparer) has been improved or has TrySZSort simply been removed? Or did I miss something?

(Release build, no Debug, no Reflector available right now ;) ) Thanks!

UPDATE: According to the hint by @Reed Copsey, the lambda expression is not fair. I tried to change it to the same as the comparer does. The speed went up. Asc / lambda went from 55% -> 75%. So it still is considerably slower.

Answer 1

So, the lambda really is slowest. But how comes, the plain ascending Array.Sort is not faster anymore? Is it, because Array.Sort(T[], Comparer) has been improved or has TrySZSort simply been removed? Or did I miss something?

Well, there's two issues here. First, this really depends on your build and system -

On my system, in x64, Array.Sort() is the fastest, by a significant amount:

ascending took: 192 ms
descending took: 248 ms
desc lambda took: 326 ms
ascending took: 194 ms
descending took: 247 ms
desc lambda took: 326 ms

On x86, things are slightly different - but not nearly the same significance as you're showing:

ascending took: 235 ms
descending took: 223 ms
desc lambda took: 325 ms
ascending took: 234 ms
descending took: 222 ms
desc lambda took: 325 ms

Did you have the visual studio host attached when you ran these timings? Even a release build will be dramatically slower if you run within VS (ie: F5 instead of Ctrl+F5 by default).

---

Also note that your test isn't completely fair, in regards to the lambda. You should use the same mechanism for testing, which would be:

Array.Sort<double>(a, (x, y) => (x > y) ? -1 : 1);