What is the Common Language Runtime (CLR)?

Posted: 29.5.2002 13.20.52 (EET/GMT+2)

The .NET Framework introduces a new execution environment called the Common Language Runtime (CLR). Applications written for .NET execute under the CLR instead of running directly as native Win32 applications.

C# or VB.NET > Intermediate Language (IL) > Common Language Runtime > Machine Code

The CLR provides services such as:

memory management
garbage collection
exception handling
security (CAS)
type safety.

When an application starts, the CLR compiles Intermediate Language (IL) into native machine code using Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation. This allows applications written in different .NET languages to execute within the same runtime environment.