.NET Framework is a managed execution environment
for Windows that allows software developers to create an app in one programming
language and be assured that the app will be able to work with code written in
other languages. The framework is designed to accommodate object code no matter
where it is stored or executed.
The .NET Framework is the
predominant implementation of Microsoft's .NET technologies. The framework
features a common language runtime (CLR) and a class library. The CLR is
Microsoft's implementation of the common language infrastructure (CLI), a
standard for helping different programming languages and libraries work
together. The CLR manages system services such as memory, thread execution,
code execution, code safety verification and compilation. The class library
contains tested, reusable code that developers can call from their own apps to
provide functionality for such things as file input/output, parsing XML and
working with Windows Forms.
Microsoft's development tool for
designing and developing .NET apps is called Visual Studio and apps are
typically written in Visual Basic (VB), C# or F#. The Microsoft Test Framework
(MSTest) can be used to provide quality assurance (QA) for .NET applications.
How the .NET Framework works
Source code written in one
language is compiled into an intermediate language (IL) which is stored on disk
in an executable file called an assembly. The assembly contains a manifest that
provides information about the code's type, version and security requirements.
Once the assembly is loaded into the CLR and validated, the IL code can be
translated into native machine instructions.
Language compilers for the .NET
Framework use the Common Intermediate Language (CIL), an intermediate code that
is compiled at runtime by the common language runtime. The .NET Framework helps
resolve version conflicts because it allows multiple versions of the CLR to
exist on the same computer.
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