.NET: Common Language Runtime (CLR)

The CLR is not necessarily updated when the .NET Framework advances to another version.

In fact, the CLR is somewhat independent from the Framework version that uses the CLR.

For example, a CLR whose version is less than 4.0.30319.42000 supports NET Framework versions 4 through 4.5.2. while CLRS whose version is greater than 4.0.30319.42000 supports .NET Framework 4.6 and higher.

The following table shows some versions and CLR filenames:

In PowerShell, the version of the CLR can be determined by quering the Version property of System.Environment:

PS C:\> [Environment]::Version
Major  Minor  Build  Revision
-----  -----  -----  --------
5      0      0      -1

The intern pool contains a single reference to each unique literal string declared or created in a program.

See also the method Intern of the System.String object.

CLR Integration in SQL Server.

The System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeEnvironment class provides information about Common Language Runtime Environment.

An unmanaged host calls (the deprecated) CorBindToRuntimeEx() (in mscoree.dll) to load the CLR into a process.