What is IL (Intermediate Language) in .Net ?

In software engineering the concept of abstraction is extremely important. Microsoft calls its own language abstraction layer the Common Intermediate Language (CIL). Similar to byte code like Java generates IL supports all object oriented features including data abstraction, inheritance, polymorphism, etc. In addition to these features IL supports other concepts such as properties, fields and enumeration. Any .net language can be converted into IL, so .net supports multiple languages and perhaps multiple platforms. CIL is also called as MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language). When .net code is compiled it is converted into IL, which is then executed. Because of IL objects created in one language can be accessed and derived from another. E.g. it is possible to create a class in VB.Net and derive from it in C#.