Which processors can run CIL

Question

Which processors are capable of running Common Intermediate Language(CIL), formerly known as Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL)? Clearly any machine that can run Microsoft Windows with .net qualifies as well as machines targeted by the Mono project.

It would appear that the .NET Micro Framework has the ability to target other processors not covered by the above, but it is not clear to me that it uses CIL.

Does anyone have a list of which processors are capable of running a program in CIL and or interpreting C# directly (as the .NET Micro Framework appears to do)?

EDIT to clarify, I understand that CLI is not executed directly on the metal but rather by a a runtime engine. So for this question any processor with a runtime engine that executes CIL qualifies.

Answer 1

None. There is no processor that runs CIL - CIL is to my knowledge ALWAYS translated to another form of machine code.

I think there is a CIL processor "floating around" are research project, but so far not seen in the real world.

Answer 2

Afaik, TomTom is right. They call it Intermediate for a reason... it is between the programmer's language and the processor's language. An interesting thought, though - having a processor that runs CIL code.

Answer 3

The .NET Micro Framework doesn't allow processors to interpret CIL directly. It is simply an even more lightweight interpreter that runs on embedded hardware instead of requiring a full PC architecture. It's like .NET Compact Framework but with a smaller footprint. To look at the architectures that this supports:

.NET Micro Framework Hardware