Source : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/davidebb/archive/2009/04/15/a-new-flag-to-optimize-asp-net-compilation-behavior.aspx
ASP.NET uses a per application hash code which includes the state of a number of things, including the bin and App_Code folder, and global.asax. Whenever an ASP.NET app domain starts, it checks if this hash code has changed from what it previously computed. If it has, then the entire codegen folder is wiped out.When this optimization is turned on via <compilation optimizeCompilations="true" />, the hash no longer takes into account bin, App_Code and global.asax. As a result, if those change we don’t wipe out the codegen folder.
