Dayes ran it in from a yard out . <| sep |> Well . yes . Part of the . Net Framework is , a bunch of really useful code libraries . Stuff you ' re almost certainly using like System , and System . IO , is coming from the . Net Framework . And , often the word framework just means a bunch of code libraries . But the . Net Framework is not just the code libraries , there ' s another perhaps even more important part . but first some backgroundWhen you compile C # code , you ' re not compiling it into machine code ! You ' re compiling it into an intermediate language called Common Intermediate Language CIL . It kinda looks like a cross between an assembly language and C #. That ' s what ' s in the DLLs and EXEs you ' re creating . A computer ' s processor doesn ' t really know what to do with these , instead , when you try to run them , your computer hands them to a Common Language Runtime CLR , which is a thing you ' ve installed on your computer at some point . This CLR compiles the CIL into machine code as your program is running , this is called Just In Time compilation . So , another really important part of the . Net Framework is the . Net Runtime , which is an implementation of Common Language Runtime . And of course , the compiler to go from C # CIL is also part of the . Net Framework . It ' s possible to compile C # code to CIL without the . Net Framework , and it ' s also possible to run CIL without the . Net Runtime , now that other people have implemented the Common Language Runtime , like Mono ' s Runtime . But you ' re almost certainly not doing this .