The Microsoft .NET Platform

Complexity always renders any technology difficult to understand.  I realized that if you can break down a very complex concept into small chunks, it becomes very easy to understand. So let me explain what .NET is and what  it is made up of in as little words as possible.

The .NET is a Run time environment and a base class library.

The .NET framework is made up of the following  major components:

1.       The Common Language Runtime- CLR

a.       Handle low level activities

b.      Manage .NET objects

2.       The Common Type System –CTS

a.       Defines all possible data types

b.      Defines all programming constructs supported by the .NET runtime

3.       The Common Language Specification –CLS

a.       Defines data types and programming constructs that any .NET Language can understand. If you build a library using only CLS, any .NET language can be able to use that library.

4.       Base Class Libraries

a.       Define types that can be used to build any application regardless of the type of system, whether web or desktop application.

.NET Languages:

The following are some examples of .NET Languages:

Microsoft provided languages:

1.       Visual  C#

2.       Visual Basic

3.       C++/CLI

4.       F#

Non Microsoft Compilers

1.       SmallTalk

2.       Ruby

3.       Python

4.       COBOL

5.       Pascal

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