Compiling & Execution

14y1.7kVisual Basic .NET

When we have written a program we Start Debugging to execute the program. I wish to know when does the compiling begin and end, and when does the execution begin and end. Because book is separating compiling and execution. I attach the book page.

9 Replies

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14y ago
OK I got it. Thank for your advice Sam.
Sam Hobbs14y ago
No Prime, Maha did not mess it up.

Maha, what kind of project is it? I assume it is a console project. Did you add a reference for System.Windows.Forms? Probably not.

Note that this is a new question so a new thread should have been created for it.
Prime b14y ago
man, you messed it up MAHA!
14y ago
When I tried to execute the following program, following error message is coming. Please correct it.

The type or namespace name 'Windows' does not exist in the namespace 'System' (are you missing an assembly reference?)

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace fig9_1
{
class MessageBoxl
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
MessageBox.Show("Hello");
}
}
}
Vulpes14y ago
Generally, metadata means 'data about data'.

In the context of .NET, it means data concerning the structure of your program. It includes descriptions of all the types/members used in the current assembly and all the types/members invoked from other assemblies. The metadata is held in tables which are embedded into the .exe or .dll file.

The CLR then uses this information to manage the execution of the program.

Every .NET executable needs a single entry point known as the Main() method. Execution begins when this method is entered and ends when this method returns. Various other methods will, of course, be called in between.
14y ago
Metadata and Main() method returns. Please explain these two terms.
Sam Hobbs14y ago
I am sorry that I have not looked at the contents of the zip file.

I think Visual Studio makes the difference crystal clear. You must build a project, then you execute it. The build does nothing unless something has changed that is a relevant part of the project; mainly source code. A build processes the files that are listed as input for the project using whatever tools such as the compiler that are designated for processing each type of file. The result is an executable file. The executable file can be executed many times, even a million times, without another build.

Languages such as C# and Java normally create an executable that is not directly executable but that use a virtual machine of some type. So what Vulpes says about intermediate language (IL) and metadata is true for languages such as C# and Java.

Before C# and Java existed, normally source code files would first be compiled and the output would be called object files. Then a linker would process all object files that need to go into a single executable.
Sean Stewart14y ago
http://www.codecoffee.com/tipsforlinux/articles/18.html
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6312452/c-sharp-online-compiling-and-execution-security-issues
Vulpes14y ago
Compiling (or building) is the process of converting C# source code into intermediate language (IL) and metadata.

You know it's completed in Visual Studio when you build a solution and it says 'Build succeeded'.

If your project is an exe, you can then execute (or run) it in either debug or release mode. When the Main() method returns, execution is at an end.