Advanced Interop with Unsafe Pointers

Snippet

Advanced Interop with Unsafe Pointers

The 'unsafe' keyword allows C# to perform pointer arithmetic, similar to C++. Using 'fixed' pins the managed object in memory, preventing the Garbage Collector from moving it while you directly manipulate its memory addresses for maximum throughput in low-level scenarios.

snippet.csharp
csharp
public unsafe void FastCopy(byte[] src, byte[] dest) {
    fixed (byte* pSrc = src, pDest = dest) {
        byte* ps = pSrc;
        byte* pd = pDest;
        for (int i = 0; i < src.Length; i++) {
            *pd++ = *ps++;
        }
    }
}

Breakdown

fixed (byte* pSrc = src, pDest = dest)

Pins the arrays in memory to prevent GC movement during pointer access.

*pd++ = *ps++;

Directly dereferences pointers and increments them, mimicking low-level C memory copy.

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Advanced Interop with Unsafe Pointers

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