Column-Oriented Internal Representation

<>Internally, POCO DataSet uses a column-oriented storage layout. Instead of storing each DataRow as a standalone object with multiple fields, each column stores its values in a dedicated collection. This approach improves lookup performance and reduces memory overhead.

Benefits of Column-Oriented Storage

• Efficient memory layout for large tables.
• Fast access to all values of a single column.
• Reduced overhead when adding or removing rows.
• Better suitability for serialization and diff-based updates.

How It Works

Each DataTable maintains a list or array-like structure for each column. DataRows act as logical views over these column arrays rather than owning the values directly.

Table of Content POCO DataSet Table and Row Organization