What Is Application Domain?

Application Domains are like little, isolated pockets of code that you can create to ensure your applications do not affect one another. They're like the little mini-worlds you can make in Second Life, except they're real! When you start a new application domain, you get a new process, code, data, and configuration settings. You can have as many application domains running at once as your computer has a memory for. If you have more than one CPU, the CLR will automatically distribute the processes across them. That way, each domain gets its machine to run on! Application domains are the smallest unit of isolation in the CLR. They are further subdivided into execution contexts, the smallest unit of code that can compile separately. An execution context is a CLR process that executes in isolation from other applications' execution contexts on the same computer. Execution contexts are created when a program starts. An application domain is a lightweight process to host a single application's code. Application domains have memory, which can not be accessed directly by other application domains. Application domains can be thought of as a process with their virtual memory. Since application domains are lightweight, they can be spawned or load-balanced in large numbers to create a distributed application. Endpoint architecture in. NET enables the communication between application domains, which provides an additional isolation boundary. Application domains are like mini-processes but better. The CLR loads and executes multiple. NET applications are in one process, but it doesn't let them directly access each other's memory. Instead, the CLR manages the process for you so that even if a thread from one application domain tries to access another application domain's memory, the CLR will stop it before anything happens. It is because of verifiable type-safety, an inherent feature of managed code. NET Framework. Also, threads can cross-application domain boundaries and spread out over multiple application domains, so they don't have to wait around while other lines finish up they go on their merry way without affecting anything else!