Abstract
Millions of programmers use ECMA CLI-compliant languages like VB.NET and C#. The resulting bytecode can be executed on several CLI implementations, such as those from Microsoft and the open-source Mono organisation. While assemblies are the standard unit of deployment, no standard exists for the process of finding and loading assemblies at run-time. The process is typically complex, and varies between CLI implementations. Unlike other linking stages, such as verification, it is visible to programmers and can be a source of confusion.
We offer a framework that describes how assemblies are resolved, loaded and used in CLI implementations. We strive for implementation-independence and note how implementations from different organisations vary in behaviour. We describe the reflection features available for dynamic loading, and give C# examples that exercise the features modelled in the framework.
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Buckley, A. (2005). A Model of Dynamic Binding in .NET. In: Dearle, A., Eisenbach, S. (eds) Component Deployment. CD 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3798. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11590712_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11590712_12
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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