Chapter 10. Metadata and Reflection
In this chapter: |
Metadata, which is often described as data about data, formalizes the composition of an assembly. Metadata is the actualization of the state of an assembly. As a reflection of an assembly, metadata includes all information pertaining to the assembly, including a detailed description of each type, the attributes of the assembly, and other particulars of the assembly itself. Metadata is similar to a type library in COM, except that metadata is always persisted in the application that it describes. For this reason, assemblies are often referred to as self-describing. Because metadata is indigenous to the assembly, metadata cannot be lost, and versioning ...
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