.NET is an open-source, cross-platform developer platform created by Microsoft for building a wide variety of applications, including web, mobile, desktop, and gaming apps. It provides a consistent framework and runtime environment for developers, allowing them to write code that can run on different operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux.
.NET consists of several key components that work together to streamline the development process:
Languages: .NET supports multiple programming languages, with C# being the most popular. Others include F# and Visual Basic. A core feature, called the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI), allows code written in one .NET language to be used in another.
Runtime: The Common Language Runtime (CLR) is the execution engine of .NET. It's responsible for managing code execution, providing services like automatic memory management (via a garbage collector), security, and exception handling. It compiles intermediate code into native machine code at runtime, which improves performance.
Libraries: The Framework Class Library (FCL) is a comprehensive collection of reusable classes, interfaces, and value types. It provides a vast range of pre-built functionalities for common tasks such as file handling, database access, and network communications, which significantly reduces development time.