What is the difference between C# , .NET and CLI?

Question

What is the difference between C# , .NET and CLI?

Answer 1

C# is one of the .NET languages - VB.NET, F# and many more exist.

.NET is a platform (libraries, compiler and runtime) on which code written by any of these languages runs.

CLI is the Common Language Infrastructure - it is a specification that describes the executable code and runtime that make the .NET platform. Apart from the Microsoft one, there are other implementations - mono and Portable.NET the most known.

If you want some more acronyms:

• There is also the CLR - the common language runtime, which is the Microsoft implementation of the CLI, mentioned above.

• In addition, on top of the CLR, Microsoft have created the DLR - the dynamic language runtime is a set of services for several dynamic languages such as python and ruby.