What is .Net Reflection?

Reflection objects are used for creating type instances and obtaining type information at runtime. The classes in the System.Reflection namespace gives access to the metadata of a running program.

In a .NET interview, a correct answer to the question “What is .NET Reflection?” would be:

.NET Reflection is a powerful feature of the .NET Framework that allows developers to inspect, analyze, and manipulate metadata and types in assemblies at runtime. It provides a way to dynamically load assemblies, examine and invoke types, and access type information such as properties, methods, and attributes, without having prior knowledge of the types at compile time. Reflection enables tasks such as creating instances of types, invoking methods dynamically, and accessing and modifying member values. It is commonly used in scenarios such as plugin systems, serialization, code generation, and dynamic code execution. However, it’s important to note that while reflection is a powerful tool, its use should be approached with caution due to performance overhead and potential security risks.