"Dick Moores" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote >>But the whole idea of the intermediate code thing is >>that you can intermix languages. > > Alan, could you explain what you mean by "the intermediate code > thing"?
.NET works like Java in that it doesn't compile into machine language object code directly but uses a framework called the Common Language Runtime(CLR) and an underlying foundation known as the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) which in turn includes the Common Type System (CTS) and the Common Intermediate Language (CIL) which all of the .NET family of languages must support. The CLR includes things like a common exception handling framework, comon object model and of course the common types (so an int looks the same in VB or C#) and intermediate language that is interpreted by the .NET environment. Exactly like a Java JIT compiler converts Java bytecode into machine code prior to execution.compiled Java bytecode. This is all hidden inside an exe file by providing a standard exe style header which Windows can use to determine the type of exe and for CLR files launch the .NET environment. For more detail see the MS .NET web pages and other .NET sites. I also recommend the O'Reilly ".NET Framework Essentials" book for an overview of how it all fits together. -- Alan Gauld Author of the Learn to Program web site http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
