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What are Native DLLs?


When I was reading about DLLs on StackOverflow I came across the term "Native DLLs" a lot of times. I found questions regarding them but I couldn't understand what a "Native DLL" actually is.

What is a native DLL?


Solution

  • Native DLL's are usually DLL's containing raw processor directly-executable code (such as that found in the Win32 API's) as opposed to, for example, managed (MSIL) which contain code that is consumed and JIT compiled to native processor instructions by a runtime such as the .NET CLR.

    In .NET it is also possible to create mixed-mode DLL's that contain both native binary code and managed code.