Why is there a difference in behaviour of an application built in VS 2010 v.s. VS 2012?

Question

I was checking whether installing .NET 4.5 on our build machines changes the output IL image generated by VS 2010.

Since I know the behaviour of foreach has changed in .NET 4.5 to avoid issues due to Access to Modified closure, I chose a simple application that exhibited the behaviour.

  class Program
    {
        private static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var contents = new List<Func<int>>();
            var s = new StringBuilder();

            int[] values = new int[] { 4, 5, 6 };

            foreach (int value in values)
            {
                contents.Add(() => value);
            }

            for (var k = 0; k < contents.Count; k++)
                s.Append(contents[k]());

            Console.WriteLine(s);
        }

VS 2010 output: 666

VS 2012 output: 456

I created a console application in VS 2010 and a console application with the same code in VS 2012 (both targeted .NET 4).

However, both the console applications exhibited different behaviours based on the IDE they were built with. In the build output, I checked that both had nearly similar build arguments. So I was wondering how the end executable exhibited different behaviour? .NET 4.5 is an in-place upgrade, so the compiler for both IDEs must be the same.

NOTE: I did have a look at a related question: Different LINQ Answer in VS 2010 and VS 2012 but it did not answer my question on why the executable behaviour differed.

EDIT 1: As mletterle mentioned, I did try building the code using the commandline in the output window of VS 2010 in a VS 2010 command prompt. The resulting output behaved as if it was built with VS 2012.

EDIT 2:

I am posting the output present in Output Window:

VS 2010: Build started 12/20/2012 11:04:56 PM.

CoreClean: Creating directory "obj\x86\Debug\". GenerateTargetFrameworkMonikerAttribute: Skipping target "GenerateTargetFrameworkMonikerAttribute" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files. CoreCompile:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Csc.exe /noconfig /nowarn:1701,1702 /nostdlib+ /platform:x86 /errorreport:prompt /warn:4 /define:DEBUG;TRACE /errorendlocation /preferreduilang:en-US /highentropyva- /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\Microsoft.CSharp.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\mscorlib.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\System.Core.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\System.Data.DataSetExtensions.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\System.Data.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\System.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\System.Xml.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\System.Xml.Linq.dll" /debug+ /debug:full /filealign:512 /optimize- /out:obj\x86\Debug\TestConsoleApp.exe /target:exe /utf8output Program.cs Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs "C:\Users\105044960\AppData\Local\Temp.NETFramework,Version=v4.0.AssemblyAttributes.cs" _CopyAppConfigFile: Skipping target "_CopyAppConfigFile" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files. CopyFilesToOutputDirectory: Copying file from "obj\x86\Debug\TestConsoleApp.exe" to "bin\Debug\TestConsoleApp.exe". TestConsoleApp -> C:\Users\105044960\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\TestConsoleApp\TestConsoleApp\bin\Debug\TestConsoleApp.exe Copying file from "obj\x86\Debug\TestConsoleApp.pdb" to "bin\Debug\TestConsoleApp.pdb".

VS 2012:

1>CoreClean: 1> Deleting file "c:\users\105044960\documents\visual studio 11\Projects\TestConsoleApp\TestConsoleApp\bin\Debug\TestConsoleApp.exe". 1> Deleting file "c:\users\105044960\documents\visual studio 11\Projects\TestConsoleApp\TestConsoleApp\bin\Debug\TestConsoleApp.pdb". 1> Deleting file "c:\users\105044960\documents\visual studio 11\Projects\TestConsoleApp\TestConsoleApp\obj\Debug\TestConsoleApp.csprojResolveAssemblyReference.cache". 1> Deleting file "c:\users\105044960\documents\visual studio 11\Projects\TestConsoleApp\TestConsoleApp\obj\Debug\TestConsoleApp.exe". 1> Deleting file "c:\users\105044960\documents\visual studio 11\Projects\TestConsoleApp\TestConsoleApp\obj\Debug\TestConsoleApp.pdb". 1>GenerateTargetFrameworkMonikerAttribute: 1>Skipping target "GenerateTargetFrameworkMonikerAttribute" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files. 1>CoreCompile: 1> C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Csc.exe /noconfig /nowarn:1701,1702,2008 /nostdlib+ /platform:AnyCPU /errorreport:prompt /warn:4 /define:DEBUG;TRACE /errorendlocation /preferreduilang:en-US /highentropyva- /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\Microsoft.CSharp.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\mscorlib.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\System.Core.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\System.Data.DataSetExtensions.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\System.Data.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\System.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\System.Xml.dll" /reference:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\System.Xml.Linq.dll" /debug+ /debug:full /filealign:512 /optimize- /out:obj\Debug\TestConsoleApp.exe /target:exe /utf8output Program.cs Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs "C:\Users\105044960\AppData\Local\Temp.NETFramework,Version=v4.0.AssemblyAttributes.cs" 1>CopyFilesToOutputDirectory: 1> Copying file from "obj\Debug\TestConsoleApp.exe" to "bin\Debug\TestConsoleApp.exe". 1> TestConsoleApp -> C:\Users\105044960\Documents\Visual Studio 11\Projects\TestConsoleApp\TestConsoleApp\bin\Debug\TestConsoleApp.exe 1> Copying file from "obj\Debug\TestConsoleApp.pdb" to "bin\Debug\TestConsoleApp.pdb".

Er, why exactly are you surprised? You linked to a blog post explaining the different behavior... — jalf
@GaneshR. but again, isn't that explained in the answer you linked to (and which again links to this? It is changed because there has been a change in how the compiler implements the foreach loop. Maybe I'm missing something, but looks like you already have the answer to your question — jalf
@jalf - The change is connect to C# 5.0 not the .NET Framework itself. — Security Hound

acelent acelent · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-20T18:43:04

Visual Studio uses an in-process compiler, so it knows which version of C# it's using.

As you noted, csc.exe from the command line, on the other hand, uses whatever C# version it's made to compile, so in your case it'll be C# 5.0. Since it's an in-place upgrade (in terms of installation directory), it might break code that relied on the foreach binding being the same across the whole loop (odd, but possible).

NOTE: Old answer for the wrong question: the OP knows this and was testing it from the command line.

The blog post you link to already answers your question. I think this question is related to this one.

It's the compiler that changed, so this:

foreach (int value in values)
{
    // ...
}

used to generate something along the following code:

{
    int value;
    for (/* iteration */)
    {
        value = /* get from enumerator */;
        // ...
    }
}

while the new C# compiler now generates the equivalent of moving the variable to inside the loop:

for (/* iteration */)
{
    int value = /* get from enumerator */;
    // ...
}

This makes a great difference, since closures within the // ... will capture a new value binding in each cycle, instead of sharing the same value binding that used to be declared outside the loop.

The catch is, if you want your code to work correctly for both older and newer compilers, you must declare your own variable inside the foreach loop:

foreach (int value in values)
{
    int newValue = value;
    // ...
}

The current C# 4.0 specification in Visual Studio 2010 says:

(...) A foreach statement of the form

foreach (V v in x) embedded-statement

is then expanded to:

{
  E e = ((C)(x)).GetEnumerator();
  try {
      V v;
      while (e.MoveNext()) {
          v = (V)(T)e.Current;
          embedded-statement
      }
  }
  finally {
      … // Dispose e
  }
}

The C# 5.0 specification in Visual Studio 2012 says:

(...) A foreach statement of the form

foreach (V v in x) embedded-statement

is then expanded to:

{
  E e = ((C)(x)).GetEnumerator();
  try {
      while (e.MoveNext()) {
          V v = (V)(T)e.Current;
          embedded-statement
      }
  }
  finally {
      … // Dispose e
  }
}

Why is there a difference in behaviour of an application built in VS 2010 v.s. VS 2012?

2 Answers