.NET FRAMEWORK

Introduction

Microsoft .NET Framework is a software framework that can be installed on computers running Microsoft Windows operating systems. It includes a large library of coded solutions to common programming problems and a virtual machine that manages the execution of programs written specifically for the framework.

.NET Framework supports multiple programming languages in a manner that allows language interoperability, whereby each language can utilize code written in other languages; in particular, the .NET library is available to all the programming languages that .NET encompasses.

The .NET Framework is a Microsoft offering and is intended to be used by most new applications created for the Windows platform. A framework is commonly thought of as a set of class libraries that aid in the development of applications.

According to the Microsoft, “.NET Framework is a platform for building, deploying, and running web services and applications.”

It provides a highly productive, standards-based, multi-language environment for integrating existing investments with next-generation applications and services as well as the ability to solve the challenges of deployment and operation of Internet-scale applications.

.NET Framework is the infrastructure for the new Microsoft .NET Platform as shown in figure 1.1.  The .NET Framework is a common environment for building, deploying, and running Web Services and Web Applications.

Components of .Net Platform

i)        Operating System: At the base level operating system provides the basic functionality used by .Net framework.

ii)      .Net Enterprise Server: On top of Operating System, .Net Enterprise Servers like BizTalk, Application Center, Exchange Server, etc., to shorten the development time of large scale business solution.

iii)    .Net Building Block Services: Since web services are highly reusable across web, Microsoft plans to provide number of building block services that application developer can use like UddI.

iv)    Visual Studio .Net: At the top level Microsoft Visual Studio.NET, a development tool which makes rapid development of web services and other applications.

v)      .Net Framework: At the center of .Net platform is Microsoft.NET Framework.

.NET Framework contains common class libraries - like ADO.NET, ASP.NET and Windows Forms - to provide advanced standard services that can be integrated into a variety of computer systems.

NET Framework is more than just a set of classes. The .NET Framework is targeted by compilers using a wide variety of programming languages. These languages are used to create a wide range of applications, including everything from small components that run on handheld devices to large Microsoft ASP.NET applications that span Web farms, where multiple Web servers act together to improve the performance and fault tolerance of a Web site.

.NET Framework is language neutral. It supports C++, C#, Visual Basic, and JScript. Third-party languages - like APL, COBOL, Eiffel, FORTRAN, Haskell, Mercury, Mondrian, Oberon, Pascal, Perl, Python, RPG, Scheme will also be available for building future .NET Framework applications.

New Visual Studio.NET is a common development environment for the new .NET Framework. It provides a feature-rich application execution environment, simplified development and easy integration between a numbers of different development languages.

.NET Framework is responsible for providing a basic platform that these applications can share. This basic platform includes a runtime set of services that oversee the execution of applications. A key responsibility of the runtime is to manage execution so that software written by different programming languages uses classes and other types safely.