Why use a post compiler?

Question

I am battling to understand why a post compiler, like PostSharp, should ever be needed?

My understanding is that it just inserts code where attributed in the original code, so why doesn't the developer just do that code writing themselves?

I expect that someone will say it's easier to write since you can use attributes on methods and then not clutter them up boilerplate code, but that can be done using DI or reflection and a touch of forethought without a post compiler. I know that since I have said reflection, the performance elephant will now enter - but I do not care about the relative performance here, when the absolute performance for most scenarios is trivial (sub millisecond to millisecond).

Answer 1

AOP (PostSharp) is for attaching code to all sorts of points in your application, from one location, so you don't have to place it there.

You cannot achieve what PostSharp can do with Reflection.

I personally don't see a big use for it, in a production system, as most things can be done in other, better, ways (logging, etc).

You may like to review the other threads on this matter:

• Anyone with Postsharp experience in production?
• Other than logging, and transaction management what are some practical applications of AOP?
• Aspect Oriented Programming: What do you use PostSharp for?
• etc (search)