Common Intermediate Language: Difference between revisions

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{{For|the counterpart to compiled assembly in the [[Common Language Infrastructure]]|assembly (CLI)}}

'''Common Intermediate Language''' ('''CIL''', pronounced either "sil" or "kil"), formerly called '''Microsoft Intermediate Language''' or '''MSIL'''{{Citation needed|date=April 2017}}, is the lowest-level [[human-readable]] [[programming language]] defined by the [[Common Language Infrastructure]] (CLI) specification and is used by the [[.NET Framework]] and [[Mono (software)|Mono]]. Languages which target a [[Common Language Infrastructure|CLI]]-compatible runtime environment compile to CIL, which is assembled into an [[object code]] that has a [[bytecode]]-style format. CIL is an [[object-oriented]] [[assembly language]], and is entirely [[Stack machine|stack-based]]. Its bytecode is translated into [[native code]] or—most commonly—executed by a [[virtual machine]].

CIL was originally known as Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) during the beta releases of the .NET languages. Due to standardization of [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]] and the [[Common Language Infrastructure]], the bytecode is now officially known as CIL.<ref>{{cite web