Microsoft® .NET™ Framework provides a large structure of pre-coded solutions to common program requirements and also manages the execution of the programs which are specifically written for this framework. Runtime required to run applications written in .NET is called Common Language Runtime(CLR).
The main aim of the framework is to make the task of developing applications easier at the same time ensure that the applications work properly with full security.
Programmer through the years have faced many challenges like depending on one programming language which restricted them from using all the good features of different languages and tools. Common framework assures the availability of framework features to all applications written in any languages of that framework, this meant programmer can choose any .NET language but he/she could access all the features of .NET, hence it reduces the complexity and the restrictions of communication between programs even if it is written in different .NET language. Visual Basic and C# support .NET Framework.
Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) is the most important part of .NET framework. The implementation of CLI is called the Common Language Runtime (CLR). In the chart on the left you can see how CLI works.
Development of .NET Framework started in late 90s and the orginial name was the Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS). In late 2000 the first beta version of .NET 1.0 was released.
In this period of six years we have seen different versions of .Net which are as follows :
.NET Framework 1.0,
.Net Framework 1.1,
.NET Framework 2.0
and the latest being .NET 3.0 Framework.
Major changes brought after the release of .Net 1.0 were Built in support for ODBC, earlier it was available as an add-on to .NET 1.0, Built in support for mobile ASP.Net controls, Support for Internet Protocol Version 6. .NET Framework 2.0 was released with Visual Studio .NET 2005. The latest in the framework is .NET Framework 3.0 formely called WinFX.
My next article will contain details about this .NET Framework 3.0 and the way it changes how we design and use applications.
Any comments on the article or on the whole blog are welcome.