Are .NET Exceptions Really a Performance Bottleneck?

Performance impact of .NET anomalies: What is the truth?

In the field of software development, there is an ongoing debate about whether exceptions affect performance. Some believe the anomaly slows things down significantly, while others believe its impact is minimal.

Speed ​​problem

The arguments against throwing exceptions focus on their alleged inefficiency. Critics argue that the process of creating and unrolling exceptions consumes a lot of resources, potentially slowing down program execution.

Benchmark

Despite these claims, benchmark tests conducted by software engineers such as Eric Lippert, Mark Gravell, and Jon Skeet show that the speed penalty associated with the anomaly is negligible. These tests show that the cost of handling exceptions is comparable to the cost of other operations such as if-else statements.

Practical considerations

While benchmarks provide valuable insights, real-world scenarios may introduce other factors that impact performance. In particular, the depth of the exception stack frame may increase the time required to unwind the exception. However, it is important to note that incorrect code also introduces overhead and may encounter similar performance challenges.

Suggestion

Based on the available evidence, .NET exceptions are not inherently slow. Therefore, developers are generally advised not to avoid using exceptions solely for performance reasons. Instead, exceptions should be used sparingly to handle exceptional conditions that cannot be easily handled by other means (such as error codes).

More resources

• Exceptionally slow? by Eric Lippert
• Exceptions are considered slow by Mark Mariani
• Misunderstandings about exceptions by Jesper Brumme

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