.NET applications written in high-level programming languages like C#, F#, or Visual Basic are compiled into a language-agnostic Common Intermediate Language (CIL).
Here's how .NET applications work:
- Compilation: The Common Language Runtime (CLR) compiles code into CIL as the developer writes it.
- Storage: Compiled code is stored in assemblies with a .dll or .exe file extension.
- Execution: When an application runs, the CLR uses a just-in-time compiler (JIT) to convert the assembly into machine code that can run on the computer's architecture.