Common Language Infrastructure: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:02, 13 February 2004

Revision as of 20:04, 25 April 2004

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The '''Common Language Infrastructure''' (CLI) is used in [[Microsoft]] [[.NET]] as the basis for running programs written in different [[programming language | programming languages]]. Before this, each language required its own runtime module for the compiled programs to run - [[Visual Basic]] required ''VBVM'', Visual C++ versions prior to Visual C++.NET needed ''MSVCRT'' [[DLL]]. The common language infrastructure is an effort to unify the different runtime modules needed.

The CLI uses a class library and [[virtual machine]], the [[Common Language Runtime]] (CLR). Many compilers are in development to produce code for this virtual machine. The code the virtual machine uses is expressed in a Common Intermediate Language (CIL), also known as Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL), a CPU-independent set of instructions that can be efficiently converted to native code. CIL can be thought of as a high level assembly language.