-
A runtime system is used to support the execution of programs
-
.NET provides a runtime system that is used by all .NET
languages
-
It provides:
-
a standard set of primitive types,
-
a standard way of hadling exceptions,
-
a class library,
-
...
-
Microsoft are providing .NET compilers for:
-
Managed C++
-
JScript
-
Visual Basic.NET
-
C#
-
Others are providing .NET compilers for:
-
COBOL
-
Eiffel
-
Fortran
-
Haskell
-
ML
-
Perl
-
Python
-
Scheme
-
Smalltalk
-
...
A .NET compiler writer can rely on the CLR:
-
to create new types;
-
to create and initialize objects;
-
to track references to objects
and provide garbage collection;
-
to handle the calling of methods;
-
to manage the access to array elements;
-
to provide support for exceptions;
-
...
-
A .NET compiler generates code in
an intermediate language called
MSIL.
-
A platform
needs a
CLR engine
in order to run a file containing MSIL instructions.
-
There are CLR engines for most Windows platforms.
-
A project called
Mono
is building an open-source implementation of the .NET
Framework.