.NET Framework
The .NET framework created by Microsoft is a software development platform
focused on rapid application development, platform independence and network
transparency. .NET is Microsoft's strategic initiative for server and desktop
development for the next decade. According to Microsoft, .NET includes many
technologies that are designed to facilitate rapid development of internet and
intranet applications.
.NET has brought new functionalities and tools to the API (Application
programming interface). These innovations allow programmers to develop
applications for both Windows and the web as well as components and services
(web services). .NET provides a new reflective, object-oriented API. .NET is
designed to be sufficiently generic that many different high-level languages can
be compiled.
There is a collection of development tools specifically developed for use with
the .NET platform. The principal example is Visual Studio .NET, an integrated
development environment provided by Microsoft.
.NET languages
The Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) is designed to provide support for any object-oriented programming
language, sharing a common object model and a large common class library. .NET
supports over 40 programming languages. Many of these compilers are free (the
vendors sell IDEs).
Most languages have significant adjustments to fit into the .NET Framework. The
vendors have often used this as an opportunity to change other features of the
languages at the same time.
Built-in languages
- Visual Basic .NET, an improved, object-oriented, multi-threaded version of the
classic Visual Basic programming language.
- C#, an object-oriented language similar to Sun's Java.
- JScript .NET, a compiled version of Microsoft's JScript.
- J#, a Java and J++ (the Microsoft variant of Java) .NET transitional language.
- Managed C++, a variant of the C++ programming language for the .NET platform.
Key Benefits
- Extensive standard application framework.
- Many 3rd party components and tools.
- Large developer community.
- OOP RAD development.
- XML: creating and consuming XML natively.
- Creating and consuming Web Services.
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