Questions like this can always be answered with a simple test case.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Diagnostics;
namespace SBTest
{
class Program
{
private const int ITERATIONS = 1000000;
private static void Main(string[] args)
{
Test1();
Test2();
Test3();
}
private static void Test1()
{
var sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
var sb = new StringBuilder();
for (var i = 0; i < ITERATIONS; i++)
{
sb.Append("TEST" + i.ToString("00000"),
"TEST" + (i + 1).ToString("00000"),
"TEST" + (i + 2).ToString("00000"));
}
sw.Stop();
Console.WriteLine("Testing Append() extension method...");
Console.WriteLine("--------------------------------------------");
Console.WriteLine("Test 1 iterations: {0:n0}", ITERATIONS);
Console.WriteLine("Test 1 milliseconds: {0:n0}", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);
Console.WriteLine("Test 1 output length: {0:n0}", sb.Length);
Console.WriteLine("");
}
private static void Test2()
{
var sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
var sb = new StringBuilder();
for (var i = 0; i < ITERATIONS; i++)
{
sb.Append("TEST" + i.ToString("00000"));
sb.Append("TEST" + (i+1).ToString("00000"));
sb.Append("TEST" + (i+2).ToString("00000"));
}
sw.Stop();
Console.WriteLine("Testing multiple calls to Append() built-in method...");
Console.WriteLine("--------------------------------------------");
Console.WriteLine("Test 2 iterations: {0:n0}", ITERATIONS);
Console.WriteLine("Test 2 milliseconds: {0:n0}", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);
Console.WriteLine("Test 2 output length: {0:n0}", sb.Length);
Console.WriteLine("");
}
private static void Test3()
{
var sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
var sb = new StringBuilder();
for (var i = 0; i < ITERATIONS; i++)
{
sb.AppendFormat("{0}{1}{2}",
"TEST" + i.ToString("00000"),
"TEST" + (i + 1).ToString("00000"),
"TEST" + (i + 2).ToString("00000"));
}
sw.Stop();
Console.WriteLine("Testing AppendFormat() built-in method...");
Console.WriteLine("--------------------------------------------");
Console.WriteLine("Test 3 iterations: {0:n0}", ITERATIONS);
Console.WriteLine("Test 3 milliseconds: {0:n0}", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);
Console.WriteLine("Test 3 output length: {0:n0}", sb.Length);
Console.WriteLine("");
}
}
public static class SBExtentions
{
public static void Append(this StringBuilder sb, params string[] args)
{
foreach (var arg in args)
sb.Append(arg);
}
}
}
On my PC, the output is:
Testing Append() extension method...
--------------------------------------------
Test 1 iterations: 1,000,000
Test 1 milliseconds: 1,080
Test 1 output length: 29,700,006
Testing multiple calls to Append() built-in method...
--------------------------------------------
Test 2 iterations: 1,000,000
Test 2 milliseconds: 1,001
Test 2 output length: 29,700,006
Testing AppendFormat() built-in method...
--------------------------------------------
Test 3 iterations: 1,000,000
Test 3 milliseconds: 1,124
Test 3 output length: 29,700,006
So your extension method is only slightly slower than the Append() method and is slightly faster than the AppendFormat() method, but in all 3 cases, the difference is entirely too trivial to worry about. Thus, if your extension method enhances the readability of your code, use it!