Do multiple entries for the same assembly in web.config cause initial start time to increase?

Question

Can having multiply entries for the same assembly in the web.config cause an increase in the initial start time of an ASP.NET application?

For example:

<add assembly="ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Web.DataSources, Version=9.2.2.1380, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=8FC3CC631E44AD86"/> <add assembly="ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Web.DataSources, Version=9.2.2.1380, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=8FC3CC631E44AD86"/>

Answer 1

ASP.NET links these assemblies at execution time for dynamic compilation. As such a duplicate entry (if it does not create an error) will simply be ignore as the same assembly cannot be linked twice.

I highly doubt this would introduce any noticeable overhead in your application's startup time.

Edit: For further reading please see add Element for assemblies for compilation (as well as all the other documents that are linked to this article):

The add element adds an assembly reference to use during compilation of a dynamic resource. ASP.NET automatically links this assembly to the resource when compiling each code module.