> I didn't look closely enough, but from what I understand you CAN'T call C++ (or any other binary) code directly. Everything has to be wrappered into the CRL and 'assemblies'...

I was refering to the specially marked code block(s) that enable your C# program to call out to native API's. You are apparently allowed to use pointers and C++ features manual heap management, pointers and pointer arithmetic. I have not tried this feature yet but I just can't seem to justify the overhead of its use. Why not just go straight to Visual C++?