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796

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The question I always wanted to ask and was afraid to, actually - what language is .NET Framework written in? I mean library itself.
It seems to me that it was C and C++ mostly. (I hope Jon Skeet is reading this one, it`ll be very interesting to hear what he thinks about it)

+2  A: 

There are parts of the .NET Framework that are open-source, like ASP.NET MVC, and it's written in C#.

Since the .NET Framework represents many assemblies, I'd presume that different libraries are written in different languages. As long as the language is CLR-compliant, it can be used to build parts of the framework.

All said, though; I'd assume the lion's share of the .NET Framework is written in C++ and C#.

JMP
+20  A: 

The CLI/CLR is written in C/C++ and assembly. Almost all of the .NET framework classes are written in C# > compiled to IL, which runs in the CLR. If you crack open a framework library in Reflector, class, you may see an attribute such as [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.InternalCall)] which delegates the call to the CLI.

Jaimal Chohan
Please note that this only applies to Microsoft .NET. Other implementations of the CLI may be architected differently. E.g., in Mono a lot of the stuff that is written in C/C++ in Microsoft.NET is actually written in C# in Mono. Also, there are metacircular implementations, both by Microsoft Research and other organizations, that are written *entirely* in C#.
Jörg W Mittag
Jörg W Mittag - Thanks, didn't know that. Will have to take a look at the C# implementations.
Jaimal Chohan
A: 

could be Assembly... [maybe?] kkk

Elieder