Processes, AppDomains, Contexts, and Threads

Abstract

In the previous chapter, you examined the steps taken by the CLR to resolve the location of an externally referenced assembly. Here, you drill deeper into the constitution of a.NET executable host and come to understand the relationship between Win32 processes, application domains, contexts, and threads. In a nutshell, application domains (or simply, AppDomains) are logical subdivisions within a given process, which host a set of related.NET assemblies. As you will see, an application domain is further subdivided into contextual boundaries, which are used to group together like-minded.NET objects. Using the notion of context, the CLR is able to ensure that objects with special needs are handled appropriately.