Microsoft® .NET Kick Start

Inspecting the CLR

The CLR is the core of the .NET Framework. It provides key runtime services to managed code (code written for the CLR), such as memory allocation, garbage collection, security, verification, class loading, just-in-time (JIT) compilation, and so on. The CLR execution model is similar to that of a Virtual Machine. Applications written in .NET-supported programming languages are compiled into an intermediate programming language, Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL), which is then JIT compiled to actual machine code on execution.

Key components of the CLR are shown in Figure 2.1. They include the following:

• Verifier verifies whether all executing code is type safe and contains well-formed metadata.

• Class loader is responsible ...