Intermediate Language (IL) / MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language)
Modern vernacular names this CIL, or Common Intermediate Language , widely accepted and used as the lowest-level human-readable programming language in the .NET Framework.
It easily compiles to CIL, effectively assembled into bytecode. It is an object-oriented assembly language, entirely stack-based and executed by a virtual machine. (see below)
C# standardization and CLI bytecode is now officially known as CIL. It is for all intents and purposes, the language to which managed applications are compiled.
It has just-in-time or JIT compilation, for on-demand solutions and dynamics. It handles a few tasks exceptionally well, enabling:
- Type-conversions
- Throwing exceptions
- Push-and-Pop Operation and stack management
- Objects, creation and manipulation
- Method invocation and return
- Load and store type functions
- Branching or control-transfer
- Arithmetic/Mathematics
- Monitor-based concurrency
Works well with and for meta-data and COM, interfaces, classes, types, methods and fields in assembly for optimal inter-operability. Source code is converted into CIL (assembly language).
Ensure access and familiarity with the MSIL Assembler (Ilasm.exe), generating portable executable (PE) files from MSIL assembly language. Running the resulting executable, containing MSIL and the required metadata, will then determine whether the MSIL performs as expected.
The command filename is the name of the .il source file, consisting of metadata declaration directives and symbolic MSIL instructions. Multiple source file arguments can be supplied to produce a single PE file with Ilasm.exe. it does not however, produce intermediate object files, not requiring a linking stage to form a PE file.
Key Exam Points
- Use for C# and Visual Basic .NET
- Review the chapters on searching, modifying and encoding text (as a regular expression former), as well as reflection implementation, where CIL or MSIL plays a fundamentally enabling role.
- For the exam, study examples for CIL, MSIL, IL that help you to gain a better understanding of this topic
- Take practice exam, Q&A, multiple choice and application questions
Related Terms
Regular Expression, Code Page
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