1. A computer-implemented method for enabling a plurality of computer assemblies in a framework to reference an external component outside of the framework, comprising, at runtime of at least one of the plurality of computer assemblies: receiving items of metadata corresponding to the external component from each of the plurality of computer assemblies, each item of metadata being descriptive of at least one signature of at least one method; selectively storing, in a unified types object, each item of received metadata, based on whether the item of metadata was previously received from another computer assembly of the plurality of computer assemblies, wherein selectively storing includes: receiving a type definition corresponding to each signature of the at least one signature; determining whether each type definition matches a previously received type definition; and in response to determining that a received type definition matches a previously received type definition, merging metadata corresponding to the received type definition with the metadata corresponding to the previously received type definition; in response to determining an invocation of the external component by one of the plurality of computer assemblies, employing the stored items of metadata in the unified types object to facilitate invoking the external component; and storing computer instructions in the unified types object and in response to determining the invocation of the external component, passing control to the unified types object, the unified types object performing at least one of marshaling of arguments, call stack manipulation, or register handling.