Introduction

.NET classes are implemented as part of the Common Type System. The Type System provides the rules by which different languages can interact with one another. Types include interfaces, value types and classes. The .NET Framework provides built-in primitive types plus higher-level types that are useful in building applications.

A Class is a kind of Type (as distinct from interfaces and value types) that encapsulates a particular set of methods, events and properties. The word object is usually used to refer to an instance of a class. An object is typically created by calling the system function ⎕NEW, with the class as the first element of the argument.

Classes support inheritance in the sense that every class (but one) is based upon another so-called Base Class.

An assembly is a file that contains all of the code and metadata for one or more classes. Assemblies can be dynamic (created in memory on-the-fly) or static (files on disk). For the purposes of this document, the term Assembly refers to a file (usually with a .DLL extension) on disk.