An assembly is the .NET term for a deployment and configuration unit. This chapter discusses exactly what assemblies are, how they can be applied, and why they are such a useful feature. In particular, this chapter covers the following topics:
The innovations offered by assemblies over previous technologies
How to create and view assemblies
What the Common Language Specification means, and how cross-language support is made possible
How to share assemblies
The chapter begins with an overview of assemblies.