OOP Concepts & .NET Fundamentals

Compile-Time

The phase where source code is translated into bytecode or machine instructions, checking syntax and static types.

Runtime

The phase during which the compiled executable binary is actively executed by the CPU.

Stack Memory

Fast, LIFO (Last-In, First-Out) thread-specific memory used for short-lived local variables, parameters, and stack frames.

Managed Heap

A process-wide memory region managed by the Garbage Collector (GC) for objects with lifetimes beyond a single stack frame.

Boxing

The process of wrapping a value type on the stack into an object reference allocated on the heap.

Unboxing

The explicit extraction of a boxed value type from an object reference on the heap back to a stack variable.

POCO (Plain Old CLR Object)

A simple .NET class that contains data and domain logic without inheriting from or depending on framework-specific types.

DTO (Data Transfer Object)

A simple data container with no business behavior used solely to transport data across process boundaries.

Thread

The smallest unit of execution within a process, possessing its own stack and instruction pointer.

Concurrency

An execution model where multiple tasks or threads make progress interleaved on a CPU.

Parallelism

The simultaneous execution of multiple operations across separate CPU cores.

Synchronous Execution

An execution model where the current thread blocks and waits until an operation completes before continuing.

Asynchronous Execution

An execution model where long-running operations yield control back without blocking the executing thread.

Mutable Object

An object whose internal properties or state can be altered after instantiation.

Immutable Object

An object whose state cannot be changed after instantiation, ensuring thread safety and predictability.