What is the difference between Assembly and a DLL? While sending the code to a remote client, should a DLL file be sent or should a Assembly be sent (When direct TCP connection is available between two)?
12 Answers
An assembly is .NET's "minimum unit of deployment". Usually an assembly corresponds to a single file, but it doesn't have to - you can have multiple files, with one of them being the master which knows where all the other bits are.
Single-file assemblies are usually DLLs or EXE files. If you've got a normal class library and you just want to send it to the other side, the DLL is what you want. I'd only worry about more complicated scenarios as and when you run into them :)
Well, a .NET dll is an assembly, but .NET exe's can be assemblies as well, so that means that all .NET dlls are assemblies, but the reverse is not true.
You shouldn't be sending actual code to a client. Rather, you should have the type definitions on both sides (client and server) and send serialized instances between the two.
An assembly is the pre-compiled code which will be passed into a the .net JIT Runtime.
It is a machine independent format for the code which can be run by any .net Command Lanuage Runtime.
DLLs and EXEs are the common formats for assemblies.
.Exe 1.These are outbound file. 2.Only one .exe file exists per application. 3. .Exe cannot be shared with other applications.
.dll 1.These are inbund file . 2.Many .dll files may exists in one application. 3. .dll can be shared with other applications.
Well, "assembly" is a term used for a .NET resource. This not necessarily a DLL. A DLL can be a .NET resource but it can also be a "native" resource as well. An assembly can be packed in a DLL or in an EXE. It just depends on the particular assembly.
If this is like your other question, you need to send the file that contains the assembly. You might be able to do something more complicated but it will be just that.
The difference between assemblies and dll is a bit like the difference between hurricane and typhoon. It just depends which ocean does it happen in.
A dll or exe in .NET world is called assemblies. That in the native Windows system are simply called dll or exe.
One other notable difference is that assembly can be dll or executable. Where as in native windows system, we generally think of dll and executable as two different type of items.
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