The Common Language Infrastructure

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Introduction to C# - slide 3 : 43

The Common Language Infrastructure

The Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) is a specification that allows several different programming languages to be used together on a given platform

Parts of the Common Language Infrastructure:
- Common Intermediate language (CIL) including a common type system (CTS)
- Common Language Specification (CLS) - shared by all languages
- Virtual Execution System (VES)
- Metadata about types, dependent libraries, attributes, and more

MONO and .NET are both implementations of the Common Language Infrastructure

The C# language and the Common Language Infrastructure are standardized by ECMA and ISO