What Is Common Language Runtime (CLR) ?

Common Language Runtime (CLR):

• CLR Stand for Common Language Runtime.
• It is called a heart of .NET framework.
• It provides runtime environment for .NET languages.

CLR has following responsibilities:

1. Intermediate language (IL) to native translation:                                                             CLR uses Just In Time (JIT) compiler which compiles IL code to machine code. This machine code then executed under .NET framework.
2. Code Verification:                                                                                                                    It provides type safety while code executes. It prevents the source code from performing illegal operations. e.g If source code is accessing invalid memory, CLR prevents it.
3. Code Access Security (CAS):       
   Responsibility of this is to grant rights to programs depending upon the security configurations of the system.
4. Garbage Collection (GC):                                                                                                       Basic responsibility of this is memory management. Thus we can code a program without need to think about how to release a memory allocated by an object. GC automatically releases memory of an object which are not referred any more by a program.