Reflection and Attributes
Daniel M. Solis · Apress eBooks · 2012
Most programs are written to work on data. They read, write, manipulate, and display data. (Graphics are a form of data.) For some types of programs, however, the data they manipulate is not numbers, text, or graphics, but information about programs and program types. Data about programs and their classes is called metadata and is stored in the programs’ assemblies. A program can look at the metadata of other assemblies or of itself, while it’s running. When a running program looks at its own metadata, or that of other programs, it’s called reflection. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.