Preface

This book, The Common Language Infrastructure Annotated Standard, annotates and amplifies the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) Standard. It describes the CLI and its parts, and contains all of the information required to understand and implement a Virtual Execution System (VES) or design a compiler that generates portable code and runs on top of a VES.

This book is indispensable for anyone who wants to understand the CLI Standard. By necessity, standards follow a specific set of guidelines, including non-repetition of information. The result is a good standard, but it can be difficult to read and easily understand.

The annotations in this book came directly from the authors of the original specification (primarily Jim Miller) and from the highly talented ECMA technical committee that is responsible for standardizing that specification. The many annotations explain and expand on the original standard, clarifying it, connecting the dots, and supplying many more cross-references to make the system understandable.

This book is intended for four audiences:

• Language and tool designers

• Developers of libraries

• Those interested in developing or understanding a Virtual Execution System

• Programmers, who will use primarily the Base Class Libraries, published in companion volumes to this one, and entitled the .NET Framework Standard Library Annotated Reference