common intermediate language (.NET) (CIL)

Common Intermediate Language (CIL), also referred to as Intermediate Language(IL), is an intermediate language standardized by the European Computer Manufacturers Association( ECMA) under ECMA-335.

ECMA defines the Common Intermediate Language as a uniform intermediate language with which applications written in higher- level programming languages such as C-Sharp or Visual Basic( VB) and running in different system environments can be operated without having to rewrite the applications. The CIL intermediate language is compiled into machine code by the Common Language Runtime( CLR) and can be executed by the operating system.

During compilation, the source code is first transformed into Common Intermediate Language before it is transferred into native machine code. This concept ensures the platform independence of the programming languages.