Are there risks to optimizing code in C#?
In the build settings panel of VS2010 Pro, there is a CheckBox with the label "optimize code"... of course, I want to check it... but being unusually cautious, I asked my brother about it and he said that it is unchecked for debugging and that in C++ it can potentially do things that would break or bug the code... but he doesn't know about C#.
So my question is, can I check this box for my release build without worrying about it breaking my code? Second, if it can break code, when and why? Links to explanations welcome.
You would normally use this option in a release build. It's safe and mainstream to do so. There's no reason to be afraid of releasing code with optimizations enabled. Enabling optimization can interfere with debugging which is a good reason to disable it for debug builds.