The .NET
Framework (pronounced dot net) is a software framework developed by Microsoft
that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and provides language interoperability
(each language can use code written in other languages) across several programming languages. Programs written for the
.NET Framework execute in a software environment (as contrasted to hardware
environment), known as the Common Language Runtime (CLR), an application virtual machine that provides
important services such as security, memory management,
and exception handling. The class library and the
CLR together constitute the .NET Framework.
The .NET
Framework's Base Class Library
provides user interface,
data access,
database
connectivity, cryptography,
web application
development, numeric algorithms,
and network
communications. Programmers produce software by combining their own source code
with the .NET Framework and other libraries. The .NET Framework is intended to
be used by most new applications created for the Windows platform. Microsoft
also produces a popular integrated
development environment largely for .NET software called Visual
Studio.Source
