Common Questions

What is .NET

What is .NET

What is .NET?

The .NET Framework is a software framework developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows.The .NET Framework is an integral Windows component that supports building and running the next generation of applications and XML Web services.  The programs written in .NET framework are excuted by Common Languge Runtime(CLR) which is an software enviroment. CLR is an application virtual mechine which handle everything like security, memory mangement and exception hadling.

.NET Framework has a base class library which is use for Database connectivity, user interface, web application development, network communications,cryptography and numeric algorithms. Using Visual studio we can develop .net application.

History of .NET

Microsoft started .NET framework development in 1990s with the name as Next Generation Windows Services(NGWS). Microsoft released its alpha form in july 2000. MicrosoftDotNet replaces terms NGWS and the COM+2 runtime. Actually the main purpose of replacing NGWS and the COM+2 with the cross-platfrom way of creating web services using the Internet standards like XML,SOAP and HTML.

Framework version of .NET 

Version	Version Number	Release Date	Visual Studio	Default in Windows
1.0	1.0.3705.0	2002-02-13	Visual Studio .NET	Windows XP Tablet and Media Center Editions
1.1	1.1.4322.573	2003-04-24	Visual Studio .NET 2003	Windows Server 2003
2.0	2.0.50727.42	2005-11-07	Visual Studio 2005	Windows Server 2003 R2
3.0	3.0.4506.30	2006-11-06		Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008
3.5	3.5.21022.8	2007-11-19	Visual Studio 2008	Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2
4.0	4.0.30319.1	2010-04-12	Visual Studio 2010	Windows 7 (recommended)
4.5	4.5.50501	2012-05-31 (RC / release preview)	Visual Studio 2012	Windows 8, Windows Server 2012

For every framework version Microsoft added advanced features.
We can have more than one framework on one system. If we have latest version of framework then we can run code of pervious version also for example: If in our system we installed version of 4.0 framework and we want to run code of version 3.5 framework. It is possible because 4.0 framework is enhanced from version 3.5 framework. And if we want to run code of framework 4.5 on the system which is having 4.0 framework it is not allowed.