Will a website still work if parts of the site have compilation errors?

Question

Will a website still work if parts of the site have compilation errors?

Answer 1

It depends on how you have deployed your website. There basically two main strategies to deploy
an asp.net application.

1.) PreCompiled deployment

In precompiled deployment you will have all your code-behind files compiled into assemblies. Further, if you are using Web Deployment projects then all those compiled assemblies will be merged into one single assembly.

So In PreCompiled deployment your website cannot be deployed without any error anywhere in the Project.

2.) XCopy deployment

In XCopy deployement you will just copy-paste your entire website to production server without compilation. In this case, only those pages are compiled,loaded and served which are requested via an HttpClient. If you have an asp.net page that has some errors, your website will not show up those error until that has been requested via any HttpClient. Remaining website continues to work without any effect from those with errors.