Buzzwords will be a recurring segment where I explain some of the words and phrases I pick up on as I grow in my development knowledge. Some will be simple definitions; others will delve further into the concepts being presented to explore their meaning.
After I started at HP, my vocabulary was challenged every day with new abbreviations and HP jargon. There were also a few technical terms, two of which came up rather frequently: managed and unmanaged code. Using context clues, I quickly figured it out, but it was something I hadn’t been exposed to during school.
Unmanaged code is code that compiles into machine language to be executed using the computer’s hardware. That is to say, that there is no intermediary between your executable and the instructions given to your computer. Standard usage of C, C++, assembly, etc. can create binaries with these instructions.
Managed code is a term used to describe code that depends on .NET’s Common Language Runtime (CLR). C#, C++/CLI, VB.NET, etc. all will build assemblies with an Intermediate Language (IL). The CLR will interpret this language and compile each part into machine language when it is to be used (this is called Just-in-Time [JIT] compiling). This methodology allows some help for the programming, such as garbage collection and security checking (though at a cost to performance, since it is automatic).
The distinction between the two is important in Microsoft’s world, as managed code can be written in a variety of languages. .NET supports C++ (C++/CLI, above), so assuming that all of a C++ program is being compiled into machine code and executes without .NET might be incorrect.
The term “managed” is usually applied to applications that use .NET, specifically; however, I’ve also heard people use the term when referring to Java. While the term was coined by Microsoft to distinguish .NET code, I don’t see any harm in using it to describe Java, which uses similar concepts in its underbelly.
Post a comment on which you use most frequently. Be sure to list the advantages that made you make this decision.