Cross-Language Compatibility
Because assemblies are self-describing and contain portable IL code, they are easily shared
across multiple languages. Finally, there??™s a viable solution for creating complex systems in
which components are coded using different languages. For example, in a complex system
used for engineering analysis, you may have a group of VB developers coding the system
infrastructure and a group of engineers developing the mathematical components. Many
engineers still program in languages such as FORTRAN, and this works because there are
FORTRAN compilers available that emit IL and create managed assemblies. Thus each
development group can work in a language that??™s more natural to them and to their problem
domains. Metadata is the key to cross-language compatibility. The metadata format is completely
described in the CLI Ecma standards documents.
Metadata
All managed modules are self-describing through the use of metadata.Metadata is an extensible
format for describing the contents of assemblies. In the managed world, just about every
entity in a program with a type can have metadata attached to it, including classes, interfaces,
methods, parameters, return values, assemblies, and so on.
You define custom attributes by deriving from the System.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184