Compiling question

Do I have this right...

When I hit the Build command, the program is compiled into Intermediate language.

When I come out of the IDE and run my new program for the first time it is compiled from the IL into Native code.

I can understand the first part, that seems fair enough. But if I examine the EXE's size before and after the native compilation, the size has not changed.

It seems to me that native code would take up less space than IL.

Whats the deal?

Simply , all .NET application processed this way :Code --> Assembly loaded into memory ---->CLR obtain info about types and methods in that assembly -->MSIL code ---->JIT Compiled---->executed assembly . So the size of the app in memory is ofcourse the same as it's before it's loaded. Native code would give you better performance in some critical situations .