This partition focuses on the semantics and the structure of metadata. The semantics of metadata, which dictate much of the operation of the VES, are described using the syntax of ILAsm, an assembly language for CIL. The ILAsm syntax itself (contained in clauses §II.5 through §II.21) is considered a normative part of this International Standard. (An implementation of an assembler for ILAsm is described in Partition VI.) The structure (both logical and physical) is covered in clauses §II.22 through §II.25.
[Rationale: An assembly language is really just syntax for specifying the metadata in a file, and the CIL instructions in that file. Specifying ILAsm provides a means of interchanging programs written directly for the CLI without the use of a higher-level language; it also provides a convenient way to express examples. The semantics of the metadata can also be described independently of the actual format in which the metadata is stored. This point is important because the storage format as specified in clauses §II.22 through §II.25 is engineered to be efficient for both storage space and access time, but this comes at the cost of the simplicity desirable for describing its semantics. end rationale]