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Hosting the Common Language Runtime

The common language runtime supports many different types of applications. For example, the runtime can run Web server applications and console applications, as well as applications with a traditional rich Windows user interface.

Each type of .NET Framework application requires a piece of code called a runtime host to start. The runtime host loads the runtime into a process, creates the application domains within the process, and loads and executes user code within those application domains. This section explains how to write a runtime host that performs several fundamental tasks.

In This Section

  • Runtime Hosts
    Describes the code that an application needs in order to start.
  • Application Domains
    Describes the constructs that hosts use to isolate code running within a process.
  • Side-by-Side Execution
    Describes running multiple versions of an application, a component or the runtime.