Most of the .NET literature I've come across reads somewhat easily because it is so similar to Java and I had already taken several Java classes.

But one of the things that I find confusing in the .NET literature is their talk of boxing and unboxing and their emphasis on Value Types and Reference Types.  I couldn't remember a similar topic in Java.  What I do remember from Java was that ...

C++ Interop, also known as “It Just Works”, is only available if you are using C++/CLI.  It is my preferred way of accessing legacy C/C++ code.  The basic idea is that things should work as they have always worked before .NET came along.  In other words, if you want to access functions within a DLL from C++/CLI, you perform the same steps as if you were using Visual C++ 6.0.

To illustrate how this is done, suppose you have access to a legacy library packaged in a DLL called MathDLL.dll.  This is the same library that I used earlier to illustrate how to use P/Invoke to access functions in a DLL.

Now suppose you use Visual Studio 2005 to create a ne ...

In 2002, Microsoft introduced a new programming framework called the .NET Framework. Programs written in any .NET language are compiled to an intermediate code called the Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) and this intermediate code is run on top of something called the Common Language Runtime (CLR). The .NET Framework also includes a large set of prewritten classes called the Framework Class Library.

The Microsoft Intermediate Language, C ...