Finding a row in a data table and deleting it in .Net (style question).

Question

I have a strongly-typed datatable and I search for a row by primary key (FyndBy) and them if the row exists I want to delete it. From a style perspective which of the methods below do you prefer?

MyDataRowType selectedRow = table.FindByTablePrimaryKey(something);
if (selectedRow != null)
    selectedRow.Delete();

or

if (table.FindByTablePrimaryKey(something) != null)
    table.FindByTablePrimaryKey(something).Delete();

Answer 1

Absolutely the first. Using the second will require the table to be searched twice and it is also harder to read. (IMHO)

Answer 2

Generally id say the first example..

Answer 3

The technical reason for choosing the first one is that you're using a simple pointer (usually just 4 bytes of memory) to store a reference to the row - that is, by using just 4 bytes you gain in not scanning the table again, which takes up a lot of resources (depending on table size, of course).