Essential .NET, Volume 1: The Common Language Runtime

Modules Defined

Programs written for the CLR reside in modules. A CLR module is a byte stream, typically stored as a file in the local file system or on a Web server.

As shown in Figure 2.1, a CLR module uses an extended version of the PE/COFF executable file format used by Windows NT. By extending the PE/COFF format rather than starting from scratch, CLR modules are also valid Win32 modules that can be loaded using the LoadLibrary system call. However, a CLR module uses very little PE/COFF functionality. Rather, the majority of a CLR module's contents are stored as opaque data in the.text section of the PE/COFF file.

Figure 2.1. CLR Module Format

CLR modules contain code, metadata, and resources. The code is typically stored in common intermediate ...