Assemblies

What is an assembly?

An assembly is the basic .NET deployment unit. It is, more or less, a "logical" DLL (although more than one physical DLL may comprise it).

Assembly structure

Manifest Metadata (type) IL code Resources

Assemblies are self-describing. They do so through a metadata structure called a manifest. This metadata is distinct from the metadata used to describe any type and functionality exposed by the assembly.

A manifest includes:

Assembly versioning is handled on the identity level.


References: D