What happens when .NET code is statically compiled to machine code (versus runtime compiled via JIT) by the VC++ back end compiler? You get highly optimized binaries that load and run faster than .NET code ever has before. Yes, my friends, .NET has gone native! :)

Today, the .NET team is releasing a preview of their new compiler technology, .NET Native. You can generate .NET native binaries for Windows Store apps only (in this preview). Tune in and meet a few key members of the .NET Native team, PM Mani Ramaswamy and Dev Lead Shawn Farkas. We go deep and Shawn spends quality time at the whiteboard. The team has done a lot of work to get where they are today and no part of .NET has gone untouched, from a new CLR to optimized BCL. This project is a natural extension of the MDIL work that was done for Windows Phone 8. It's all about highly optimized .NET for modern hardware - that the VC++ back end is turning IL into highly optimized machine code is a very, very good thing - for developers and, especially, users!

Note: Shawn and a fellow engineer will be on C9 Live at build on Day 3, so please watch this and prepare questions to ask them live, right here on C9 (details to follow).

Go native!