推荐一篇介绍.NET MetaData的文章
文章地址(pdf文件): http://www.develop.com/conferences/conferencedotnet/materials/N4.pdf
文章目录:
1. What Is Metadata?
2. Metadata Object Overview
3. The Reflection API
4. The Unmanaged API
5. Type Signatures & Tokens
6. Tools And Demo
7. Wrap-up And Resources
文章内容摘录:
Metadata Usage In .NET
Ø The .NET runtime relies heavily on metadata to link together calls and data references at runtime
Ø Metadata is stored in a binary format, and subject to change
Ø Microsoft provides .NET classes and classic COM interfaces to read and write metadata
The Advantage Of Metadata
Ø A shared standard of representing information between any .NET compatible language
n Cool benefit: Intellisense for any .NET component
Ø Metadata is automatically generated and consumed by .NET compilers
n No need to create .IDL files to expose your code to others
n No need to mess around with .H files and import libraries
Emitting Metadata
Ø Metadata (and associated IL) can be created using the .NET runtime
n Compilers aren’t the only ones that get to play!
Ø System.Reflection.Emit classes are the basis for dynamically creating code:
n AssemblyBuilder
n MethodBuilder
n ILGenerator
n Many more!
