The Common Language Infrastructure Annotated Standard

The Common Language Infrastructure Annotated Standard is the definitive guide to understanding the annotated specification for the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) standard. With annotations and code samples from both the ECMA standards committee and the Microsoft Common Language Runtime (CLR) team, this book goes beyond the online documentation to clarify and amplify the original standard and describe its implementation.

The core of this book is the international CLI standard. The text describes the CLI and its parts and provides all the information needed to implement a Virtual Execution System (VES) or design a compiler that runs on top of a VES and generates portable code. Author Jim Miller draws upon his experience as editor of the CLI standard and lead of the Microsoft CLR team to guide readers through the CLI blueprint and to a complete understanding of the CLR. Features of this book include:

• A heavily annotated architectural overview of the standard
• A description of the semantics of metadata
• A complete specification of the Portable Executable (PE) file format
• Coverage of file format and metadata layout
• An overview of the CLI libraries
• A detailed description of the Common Intermediate Language (CIL) instruction set
• Sample programs and other annexes to the standard
• An enhanced online index that allows readers to quickly and easily search the entire text for specific topics

The Common Language Infrastructure Annotated Standard is the single source programmers, language and tool designers, and library and VES developers need to render the CLI and the CLR fully comprehensible.

Contents

• Introduction to the common language infrastructure
• Concepts and architecture
• Metadata semantics
• Overview of file format
• Metadata file format
• CIL instruction set
• Profiles and libraries
• Annexes
• Appendix Microsoft portable executable and object file format specification