Filter results, slow performance Swift - swift

Question

Swift question...
I'm making a babyname app and trying to filter the results as chosen by the user. I managed to get it working, but it takes a while for the results to get filtered. I mean like 2-3 seconds.
Here is what I wrote :
func apply(list: [String]) -> [String] {
let allSavedSettings = settings.all
var newList = list
if let short = allSavedSettings["short"] as? Bool {
if !short {
print("filter short")
newList = newList.filter({$0.count > 4})
}
}
if let long = allSavedSettings["long"] as? Bool {
if !long {
print("filter long")
newList = newList.filter({$0.count < 5})
}
}
if let dutch = allSavedSettings["dutch"] as? Bool {
if !dutch {
print("filter dutch")
newList = newList.filter({!dutchboy.contains($0)})
newList = newList.filter({!dutchgirl.contains($0)})
}
}
if let english = allSavedSettings["english"] as? Bool {
if !english {
print("filter english")
newList = newList.filter({!englishboy.contains($0)})
newList = newList.filter({!englishgirl.contains($0)})
}
}
if let arabic = allSavedSettings["arabic"] as? Bool {
if !arabic {
print("filter arabic")
newList = newList.filter({!arabicboy.contains($0)})
newList = newList.filter({!arabicgirl.contains($0)})
}
}
if let hebrew = allSavedSettings["hebrew"] as? Bool {
if !hebrew {
print("filter hebrew")
newList = newList.filter({!hebrewboy.contains($0)})
newList = newList.filter({!hebrewgirl.contains($0)})
}
}
if let latin = allSavedSettings["latin"] as? Bool {
if !latin {
print("filter latin")
newList = newList.filter({!latinboy.contains($0)})
newList = newList.filter({!latingirl.contains($0)})
}
}
if let chinese = allSavedSettings["chinese"] as? Bool {
if !chinese {
print("filter chinese")
newList = newList.filter({!chineseboy.contains($0)})
newList = newList.filter({!chinesegirl.contains($0)})
}
}
if let scandinavian = allSavedSettings["scandinavian"] as? Bool {
if !scandinavian {
print("filter scandinavian")
newList = newList.filter({!scandinavianboy.contains($0)})
newList = newList.filter({!scandinaviangirl.contains($0)})
}
}
if let spanish = allSavedSettings["spanish"] as? Bool {
if !spanish {
print("filter spanish")
newList = newList.filter({!spanishboy.contains($0)})
newList = newList.filter({!spanishgirl.contains($0)})
}
}
return newList
}
So I save the users preferences as a Boolean value in an array called "allSavedSettings" with userdefaults. Whenever a setting is false it will filter the result from the complete list of names.
Is there something else I should use, to speed things up? The list is about 5000 names.
Thanks in advance.
Patrick

Answer 1

I'd use sets wherever possible since hashing is faster than iterating over an array multiple times and it eliminates duplicates. You do not need to convert your main list to a set as that would add additional cycles.
Something like this should speed things up.
var doNotInclude = Set<String>()
if allSavedSettings["english"] == false {
doNotInclude.formUnion(Set(englishBoy + englishGirl))
}
if allSavedSettings["dutch"] == false {
doNotInclude.formUnion(Set(dutchBoy + dutchGirl))
}
if allSavedSettings["arabic"] == false {
doNotInclude.formUnion(Set(arabicBoy + arabicGirl))
}
let result = list.filter { !doNotInclude.contains($0) }