Chapter 2. The Common Language Runtime

2. The Common Language Runtime

The Common Language Runtime (CLR) is the foundation for everything else in the .NET Framework. To understand .NET languages such as C# and Visual Basic (VB), you must understand the CLR. To understand the .NET Framework class libraryASP.NET, ADO.NET, and the restyou must understand the CLR. And since the .NET Framework has become the default foundation for new Windows software, anybody who plans to work in the Microsoft environment needs to come to grips with the CLR.

Everything in the .NET Framework depends on the CLR

Software built on the CLR is referred to as managed code, and the CLR provides a range of things that support creating and running this code. Perhaps the most fundamental is a standard set of types that are used by languages built on the CLR, along with a standard format for metadata, which is information about software built using those types. The CLR also provides technologies for packaging managed code and a runtime environment for executing managed code. As the most elemental part of the .NET Framework, the CLR is unquestionably the place to start in understanding what the Framework offers.

The CLR supports the creation and execution of managed code