Clipcode RefArch – Internals Of MEF

One of the most interesting characteristics of the MEF project is the the source code is available under an OSI-approved open source license (Ms-PL).

Clipcode provides a detailed guide to the internal architecture and source code of MEF, helping advanced developers get to know the finer details of the technology.

• Table Of Contents
• Sample Extract
• Sample Diagrams

This guide provides the inquisitive MEF developer with answers to questions such as:

• Why are LINQ expressions being used to build up a Func<> delegate at runtime?
• What is the purpose of the IL opcode stream (ldarg, ldstr, callvirt, brtrue, etc.) that are being used to dynamically create a type?
• The ReflectionModel namespace seems scary, what is it really used for?
• Are all catalogs just fancy versions of a TypeCatalog?
• What's with the composition stack, weak references and composable state machine that are all part of CompositionEngine?

EXTRA .. EXTRA .. EXTRA – Download a build of the 19 projects in the MEF Preview 5 source code as a Visual Studio 2010/.NET 4.0 solution. (The build supplied on codeplex.com is for Visual Studio 2008/.NET 3.5)