Metadata and the File Format

The file format specified by the CLI is an extension of the standard PE (Portable Executable) file. The information required to write a PE file for managed code, and the logical and physical layout of metadata within a file, are described in detail in Chapter 5 of this book, which covers sections 21 24 of Partition II. Chapter 4 of this book provides a road map to the very dense, but important, information in those sections. Chapter 4 also contains a detailed diagram of the metadata tables and an annotated dump of a very small managed PE file, as well as a map of the metadata.