Assembly

Question

What is Assembly ? What is difference between Shared and Private Assembly?

Vulpes · Answer

An assembly is a .NET application either an executable (.exe) or a library (.dll). An executable has an entry-point (Main method) but a library does not as it is intended for use by another .NET application or applications. Library assemblies can be private or shared. A private assembly is intended for use by a single application can have any name you please and is normally installed in the application's folder. This enables the whole application to be deployed to different machines just by copying the files. A shared assembly is intended for use by multiple applications and needs to have a unique (or strong) name as well as versioning control. Shared assemblies are normally installed in a special area of the file system known as the Global Assembly Cache (or GAC) which is managed by the CLR.