Suppose an assembly "Main" is using class "A" from another Assembly "Dep" as
follows :

A a = new A();
a.MethodOne();

At what time is the call to MethodOne linked to the actual MSIL (method
body) of the method? Does this occur when "Main" is build or does it happen
when main is loaded and Jitted? Also is the linking achieved by the full
method name( this is what is seen in the IL generated by ILDASM : e.g : call
System.String.ctor() ) or is it linked using a fixed number ( say its
ordinal in the class function table).

The reason I am asking this is what will happen if I add another method
"MethodTwo" to class "A" without changing the version of the assembly "Dep".
Will the "Main" assembly continue to run without the need to recompile?

If so, this should suggest that at least some part of the linking is done
during load-time.

Any explanations, doc references, online article references would be
appreciated.

Regards
Atul

>At what time is the call to MethodOne linked to the actual MSIL (method
>body) of the method? Does this occur when "Main" is build or does it happen
>when main is loaded and Jitted?

Depends on what you mean by "linked". At compile time there's enough
information stored in the Main assembly to locate MethodOne in the A
class in the Dep assembly.


>Also is the linking achieved by the full
>method name( this is what is seen in the IL generated by ILDASM : e.g : call
>System.String.ctor() ) or is it linked using a fixed number ( say its
>ordinal in the class function table).

By name and signature, no magic numbers.


>The reason I am asking this is what will happen if I add another method
>"MethodTwo" to class "A" without changing the version of the assembly "Dep".
>Will the "Main" assembly continue to run without the need to recompile?

Yes.


>If so, this should suggest that at least some part of the linking is done
>during load-time.

Well yes, the actual method to call is looked up by name at runtime.



Mattias

--
Mattias Sjögren [MVP] mattias @ mvps.org
http://www.msjogren.net/dotnet/ | http://www.dotnetinterop.com
Please reply only to the newsgroup.

Hi Atul,

For this issue, I have added a reply to you in
microsoft.public.dotnet.general newsgroup, please check it there, I will
follow up with you. Thanks

Best regards,
Jeffrey Tan
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
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