Role Of DLLs in a ASP.NET Website

Question

Hi All I am new into the .NET architecture stuff. I am currently working on a web based ERP project using .NET. This project will be based on service oriented architecture. I had a question regarding the role that number of DLLs (Projects/Class Libraries) plays in terms of performance of a web site. Say for example what would be the performance impact if have 4 projects/class libraries in my solution (which would be 4 DLLs) against a solution that has 12 projects (12 DLLs). Does the 12 DLL web site in any way take a performance hit ? It would be great if you could point me to some resource which can point to the internal working of DLLs in .NET environment. I am sorry if this question is in the wrong section. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Roei Bar · Answer

It is probably a tiny bit more efficient to have your code in one assembly but usually is a very small difference than loading in multiple dlls ....unless we're talking like many many DLLs . Typically it's good practice to keep all related code together to create a library...so if all the code is somewhat related then put it in one dll ....if not...then separate it into logical chunks this will help prevent headaches down the road.

Vinod Baliga · Answer

Thanks a lot for your reply. I guess while designing an n-tier application we should be very careful to make sure that the related code is in a single assembly and not have too many assemblies just for the sake of code separation. Thanks again.