The CLR is the heart of the .NET execution environment. Think of it as a virtual machine that manages .NET applications.

Key Functions:

• Just-In-Time (JIT) Compilation: Converts Intermediate Language (IL) code to native machine code at runtime, optimizing for the target platform.

• Memory Management: Handles memory allocation and garbage collection, freeing developers from manual memory management.

• Type Safety: Enforces type checking, preventing type errors and enhancing security.

• Exception Handling: Provides a structured way to handle errors and exceptions.

• Security: Enforces code access security, limiting the actions that code can perform.