HTTP handlers/Modules vs ISAPI dlls

[Norton]

I had a person tell me the other day that a person would not be able to beat
the efficiency of an ISAPI dll, especially by using handlers/modules. Of
course, they could only say the reason was that it is written in C++, which
should have nothing to do with it.

But, in general, can you write a handler that will handle just as many
connections as an ISAPI dll? Isn't a handler a managed code answer to the
ISAPI dll solution?

Thanks.

Norton.

 

[Karl]

If you read:
http://www.dotnetjunkies.com/Article/E9BE4431-3561-4A64-88C8-A49B2E50CBFA.dcik

Specifically 2 paragraph above the conclusion, they say the same thing as "a
person" did.

We shouldn't be surprised that unmanged C++ is faster than any managed code.
But there are a lot of other things we shouldn't be too surprised about
unmanaged code either

Karl

 

[Scott Allen]

Speaking *generally*:

I can write an ISAPI filter in C++ that is more performant than a C#
module implementing the same functionality. This would be because the
filter is written in C++.

Also speaking generally:

The C++ version would take 4x as long, would have 4x the number of
bugs, and have 4x the number of security holes. Just memory management
alone in a non-trivial ISAPI filer required very careful attention to
detail.

A handler written in managed code is the answer to an ISAPI dll. There
are so many benefits to managed code I'd never consider doing it in
C++ again.