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Understanding .NET

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Understanding .NET

The .NET Framework is composed of the common language runtime and a unified set of class libraries, sometimes known as base class library (BCL) or simply class library.
It can be programmed in a variety of standard and proprietary languages. These languages, when compiled, become not machine language but assemblies, a pseudo machine language not run directly by the CPU but by the CLR.

Common Language Runtime

The common language runtime (CLR) is a virtual machine responsible for running run-time services such as language integration, Common language runtime security enforcement, and memory, process, and thread management. In addition, the CLR has a role at development time when features such as life-cycle management, strong type naming, cross-language exception handling, and dynamic binding reduce the amount of code that a developer must write to turn business logic into a reusable component.

Base Class Library

Base classes provide standard functionality such as input/output, string manipulation, security management, network communications, thread management, text management, and user interface design features.

They are the .NET APIs.

The ADO.NET classes enable developers to interact with data accessed in the form of XML through the OLE DB, ODBC, Oracle, and SQL Server interfaces. XML classes enable XML manipulation, searching, and translations.

The ASP.NET classes support the development of Web-based applications and Web services. The Windows Forms classes support the development of desktop-based smart client applications.

Together, the class libraries provide a common, consistent development interface across all languages supported by the .NET Framework.

Languages

Language compilers that support the .NET Framework have been announced for the following programming languages (we have written in bold the most used ones):