Understanding .Net Framework

Microsoft .NET Framework, which is the infrastructure for developing highly distributed applications for the Internet. The .NET Framework is the infrastructure that provides the execution engine and run-time services to applications created using .NET.

The tools that .NET provides include are
• Smart Client software.

This software allows a client, a PC, or a mobile device to access data from any location or device by using XML Web services.

• .NET Server infrastructure.

This provides a highly secure and scalable platform for deploying .NET applications. The .NET Server infrastructure includes Windows 2000 Servers, Windows .NET Servers, and .NET Enterprise Servers.

• XML Web services.

These are core to application integration in the .NET environment. They allow Internet as well as intranet applications, written in different languages and hosted on different platforms, to exchange data using standard protocols such as HTTP, XML, and SOAP.

• Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework.

Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework provide a complete solution for building, hosting, and consuming XML Web services. Visual Studio .NET supports a variety of programming environments and languages and provides a single-point access to all the tools that you might need, making it one of the most productive tools available.

The .NET Framework is the infrastructure for building applications using .NET. You can create classes in any language supported by the .NET Framework. A class written in one language is reusable by classes written in other languages. You can also inherit classes across language boundaries because the .NET Framework allows language interoperability and supports cross-language inheritance. the Common Language Specification (CLS), which contains the rules for language interoperability. The code written in a CLS-compliant language is interoperable with the code written in another CLS-compliant language because the code written in a CLS-compliant language is compiled into an intermediate language (IL) code. The run-time engine executes the IL code. This ensures interoperability between CLS-compliant languages.

The .NET Framework provides four CLS-compliant languages: Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, Microsoft Visual C#, Microsoft Visual C++ .NET, and Microsoft Visual J# .NET.

The .NET Framework Architecture

The .NET Framework consists of two main components: the .NET Framework class library and the common language runtime.

The .NET Framework class library provides the types that are common to all .NET languages. Programmers can use these types to develop different kinds of applications, such as console applications, Windows and Web Forms, and XML Web services.

The common language runtime consists of components that load the IL code of a program into the runtime, compile the IL code into native code, execute and manage the code, enforce security and type safety, and provide thread support and other useful services.