Bits of .NET

🔧 Debug has Symbols. Release has Optimizations.

Debug builds are slow, good for debugging. Release builds are fast, good for production. Solution configurations switch between them.

📝 Debug vs Release

Debug:
- No optimizations (easier debugging)
- Includes debug symbols (.pdb files)
- #if DEBUG code runs
- Slower execution
- Larger binary size
- Condition compilation symbols: DEBUG

Release:
- Optimizations enabled (faster)
- No debug symbols (smaller)
- #if RELEASE code runs
- Faster execution
- Smaller binary size
- Condition compilation symbols: RELEASE, TRACE

🎯 Conditional Compilation

// Only runs in Debug
#if DEBUG
    Console.WriteLine("Debug mode");
    LogDetailedInfo();
#endif

// Only runs in Release
#if RELEASE
    Console.WriteLine("Release mode");
    OptimizePerformance();
#endif

// Conditional attribute
[Conditional("DEBUG")]
public static void LogDebug(string message)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"DEBUG: {message}");
}

// Multiple configurations
#if DEBUG || STAGING
    UseTestDatabase();
#else
    UseProductionDatabase();
#endif

💡 Custom Configurations

• Build → Configuration Manager → New
• Create: Staging, QA, Production
• Set custom #if STAGING, #if QA
• Different connection strings per configuration