What is the difference between C# , .NET and CLI?
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C# is one of the .NET languages – VB.NET, F# and many more exist.
.NET is a platform (libraries, compiler and runtime) on which code written by any of these languages runs.
CLI is the Common Language Infrastructure – it is a specification that describes the executable code and runtime that make the .NET platform. Apart from the Microsoft one, there are other implementations – mono and Portable.NET the most known.
If you want some more acronyms:
There is also the CLR – the common language runtime, which is the Microsoft implementation of the CLI, mentioned above.
In addition, on top of the CLR, Microsoft have created the DLR – the dynamic language runtime is a set of services for several dynamic languages such as python and ruby.