.net - Are there risks to optimizing code in C#?

Question

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.

Answer 1

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.