Why not look at what you actually get?
Here is a simple chunk of code in C#:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int i = 0;
try
{
i = 1;
Console.WriteLine(i);
return;
}
finally
{
Console.WriteLine("finally.");
}
}
And here is the resulting IL in the debug build:
.method private hidebysig static void Main(string[] args) cil managed
{
.entrypoint
.maxstack 1
.locals init ([0] int32 i)
L_0000: nop
L_0001: ldc.i4.0
L_0002: stloc.0
L_0003: nop
L_0004: ldc.i4.1
L_0005: stloc.0
L_0006: ldloc.0 // here's the WriteLine of i
L_0007: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(int32)
L_000c: nop
L_000d: leave.s L_001d // this is the flavor of branch that triggers finally
L_000f: nop
L_0010: ldstr "finally."
L_0015: call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(string)
L_001a: nop
L_001b: nop
L_001c: endfinally
L_001d: nop
L_001e: ret
.try L_0003 to L_000f finally handler L_000f to L_001d
}
and here’s the assembly generated by the JIT when running in debug:
00000000 push ebp
00000001 mov ebp,esp
00000003 push edi
00000004 push esi
00000005 push ebx
00000006 sub esp,34h
00000009 mov esi,ecx
0000000b lea edi,[ebp-38h]
0000000e mov ecx,0Bh
00000013 xor eax,eax
00000015 rep stos dword ptr es:[edi]
00000017 mov ecx,esi
00000019 xor eax,eax
0000001b mov dword ptr [ebp-1Ch],eax
0000001e mov dword ptr [ebp-3Ch],ecx
00000021 cmp dword ptr ds:[00288D34h],0
00000028 je 0000002F
0000002a call 59439E21
0000002f xor edx,edx
00000031 mov dword ptr [ebp-40h],edx
00000034 nop
int i = 0;
00000035 xor edx,edx
00000037 mov dword ptr [ebp-40h],edx
try
{
0000003a nop
i = 1;
0000003b mov dword ptr [ebp-40h],1
Console.WriteLine(i);
00000042 mov ecx,dword ptr [ebp-40h]
00000045 call 58DB2EA0
0000004a nop
return;
0000004b nop
0000004c mov dword ptr [ebp-20h],0
00000053 mov dword ptr [ebp-1Ch],0FCh
0000005a push 4E1584h
0000005f jmp 00000061
}
finally
{
00000061 nop
Console.WriteLine("finally.");
00000062 mov ecx,dword ptr ds:[036E2088h]
00000068 call 58DB2DB4
0000006d nop
}
0000006e nop
0000006f pop eax
00000070 jmp eax
00000072 nop
}
00000073 nop
00000074 lea esp,[ebp-0Ch]
00000077 pop ebx
00000078 pop esi
00000079 pop edi
0000007a pop ebp
0000007b ret
0000007c mov dword ptr [ebp-1Ch],0
00000083 jmp 00000072
Now, if I comment out the try and finally and the return, I get nearly identical assembly from the JIT. The differences you’ll see are a jump into the finally block and some code to figure out where to go after the finally is executed. So you’re talking about TINY differences. In release, the jump into the finally will get optimized out – braces are nop instructions, so this would become a jump to the next instruction, which is also a nop – that’s an easy peephole optimization. The pop eax and then jmp eax is similarly cheap.
{
00000000 push ebp
00000001 mov ebp,esp
00000003 push edi
00000004 push esi
00000005 push ebx
00000006 sub esp,34h
00000009 mov esi,ecx
0000000b lea edi,[ebp-38h]
0000000e mov ecx,0Bh
00000013 xor eax,eax
00000015 rep stos dword ptr es:[edi]
00000017 mov ecx,esi
00000019 xor eax,eax
0000001b mov dword ptr [ebp-1Ch],eax
0000001e mov dword ptr [ebp-3Ch],ecx
00000021 cmp dword ptr ds:[00198D34h],0
00000028 je 0000002F
0000002a call 59549E21
0000002f xor edx,edx
00000031 mov dword ptr [ebp-40h],edx
00000034 nop
int i = 0;
00000035 xor edx,edx
00000037 mov dword ptr [ebp-40h],edx
//try
//{
i = 1;
0000003a mov dword ptr [ebp-40h],1
Console.WriteLine(i);
00000041 mov ecx,dword ptr [ebp-40h]
00000044 call 58EC2EA0
00000049 nop
// return;
//}
//finally
//{
Console.WriteLine("finally.");
0000004a mov ecx,dword ptr ds:[034C2088h]
00000050 call 58EC2DB4
00000055 nop
//}
}
00000056 nop
00000057 lea esp,[ebp-0Ch]
0000005a pop ebx
0000005b pop esi
0000005c pop edi
0000005d pop ebp
0000005e ret
So you’re talking very, very tiny costs for try/finally. There are very few problem domains where this matters. If you’re doing something like memcpy and put a try/finally around each byte being copied and then proceed to copy hundreds of MB of data, I could see that being an issue, but in most usage? Negligible.