Chapter 2: Introduction to .

NET
2.1 The .NET Platform and Its Architecture

The .NET Framework is a software development framework developed by Microsoft that provides a
runtime environment and a set of libraries and tools for building and running applications on Windows
operating systems. The framework includes a variety of programming languages, such as C#, F#,
and Visual Basic, and supports a range of application types, including desktop, web, mobile, and
gaming applications.

The .NET Framework includes two main components: the Common Language Runtime (CLR) and
the .NET Framework Class Library. The CLR is responsible for managing the execution of code
written in any of the supported languages, while the class library provides a large set of pre-built
functions and classes that can be used to create a wide range of applications.

Overall, the .NET Framework is a powerful and versatile development platform that provides a wide
range of tools and libraries for building and running applications on Windows operating systems.

.NET is a software framework that is designed and developed by Microsoft. The first version of the
.Net framework was 1.0 which came in the year 2002. In easy words, it is a virtual machine for
compiling and executing programs written in different languages like C#, VB.Net, etc.
.NET Framework supports more than 60 programming languages of which 11 programming
languages are designed and developed by Microsoft.

.NET is an open-source platform for building desktop, web, and mobile applications that can run
natively on any operating system. The .NET system includes tools, libraries, and languages that
support modern, scalable, and high-performance software development.

These are the three main .NET components:

 .NET languages

 Application model frameworks

 .NET runtime
The .NET runtime, also called Common Language Runtime (CLR), compiles and executes .NET
programs on different operating systems.
The .NET Framework is a development framework that provides a new programming interface for
developing different types of application such as:

 Web application
 Windows application
 Web services
 Mobile application

The .Net framework consists of an enormous library of codes:

 Common Language Runtime (CLR)

 The .Net Framework Class Library
 Common Language Specification
 Common Type System
 Metadata and Assemblies
 Windows Forms
 ASP.Net and ASP.Net AJAX
 ADO.Net
 Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)
 Windows Presentation Foundation
 Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
 LINQ

There are following components of .NET Framework:

1. CLR (Common Language Runtime)

2. CTS (Common Type System)
3. BCL (Base Class Library)
4. CLS (Common Language Specification)
5. FCL (Framework Class Library)
6. .NET Assemblies
7. XML Web Services
8. Window Services
The .Net framework languages (Visual Basic, C#, C++, Jscript, and COBOL, etc.) is a revolutionary
platform, and multi-platform applications, that helps you to write the following types of applications −

 Windows applications
 Web applications
 Web services

The two major components of the .NET Framework are the Common Language Runtime and the .NET
Framework Class Library.
1. CL (Class Libraries)
.NET Framework Class Libraries:
It is designed by Microsoft. Without Class Libraries, we can’t write any code in .NET. So, Class
Libraries are also known as the Building block of .NET Programs. These are installed into the machine
when we installed the .NET framework. Class Libraries contains pre-defined classes and interfaces and
these classes and interfaces are used for the purpose of application development. The Class Library
also provides a set of APIs and types for common functionality. It provides types for strings, dates,
numbers, etc.

2. CLR (Common Language Runtime)

It is the core component under the .NET framework which is responsible for converting the MSIL
(Microsoft Intermediate Language) code into native code and then provides the runtime environment to
execute the code. That means Common Language Runtime (CLR) is the execution engine that handles
running applications. It provides services like thread management, garbage collection, type safety,
exception handling, and more.

What is not .NET?

1. .NET is not an Operating system.
2. It is not an application or package.
3. .NET is not a database
4. It is not an ERP application.
5. .NET is not a Testing Tool.
6. It is not a programming language.

Technologies supported by the .NET framework are as follows

1. ASP.NET (Active Server Pages.NET)
2. ADO.NET (Active Data Object.NET)
3. WCF (Windows Communication Foundation)
4. WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation)
 5. WWF (Windows Workflow Foundation)
6. AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML)
7. LINQ (Language Integrated Query)

The main difference between . NET and ASP.NET is that . NET is a (software) development
platform that is used to develop, run and execute the applications while ASP.NET is a web
framework that is used to build dynamic web applications.

ASP.NET Core is a cross-platform, high-performance, open-source framework for building

modern, cloud-enabled, Internet-connected apps. With ASP.NET Core, you can: Build web apps
and services, Internet of Things (IoT) apps, and mobile backends.

ADO.NET is a technology for accessing and manipulating databases

ADO.NET is a set of classes that expose data access services for . NET Framework programmers.
ADO.NET provides a rich set of components for creating distributed, data-sharing applications. It is an
integral part of the . NET Framework, providing access to relational, XML, and application data

Using ADO.NET , we can connect databases to access their data. Asp.NET can be developed using
many programming languages like C#, VB.NET, etc. ADO is mainly used XML to convert data from the
database.
 2.3 Introduction to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010

Visual Basic 6 is a third-generation event-driven programming language first released by Microsoft in

1991. In VB 6, there is no limit of what applications you could create, the sky is the limit. You can
develop educational apps, financial apps, games, multimedia apps, animations, database applications
and more.
Visual Basic 2008 is the version of Visual Basic launched by Microsoft in 2008. Visual Basic 2008 is
almost similar to Visual Basic 2005 but it has added many new features. Visual Basic 2008 is a full
fledged Object-Oriented Programming(OOP) Language.

The Integrated Development Environment when you launch Visual Basic 2008 Express is shown in
Figure 1.1 below. The IDE consists of a few panes, namely:

 The Recent Projects Pane- it shows the list of projects that have been created by you recently
 The Getting Started Pane- It provides some helpful tips to quickly develop your applications
 The VB Express Headlines pane- It provides latest online news about Visual Basic 2008
Express. It will announce new releases and updates
Visual Basic 2010 is the latest version of Visual Basic launched by Microsoft in 2010. VB2010 is almost
similar to Visual Basic 2008, but it has added many new features. Like Visual Basic 2008, Visual Basic
2010 is also a full fledged Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) Language, so it has caught up with
other OOP languages such as C++, Java,C# and others.

The Integrated Development Environment when you launch VB2010 Express is shown in the diagram
below. The IDE Start Page consists of a few sections, namely:

 The New Project/Open Project section.

 The Recent Projects section that shows a list of projects that have been created by you recently.
 The Getting Started Pane- It provides some helpful tips to quickly develop your applications.
 The Latest News section- It provides latest online news about Visual Basic 2010 Express. It will
announce new releases and updates
 The Properties section

Visual Basic Express 2012 is the version of Visual Basic.Net launched by Microsoft in 2012. Visual
Basic Express 2012 is almost similar to Visual Basic Express 2010 and Visual Basic 2008, but it has
added some new features. The most distinct difference is that Visual Basic Express 2012 no more
comes as a stand alone program, it is now bundled with other Microsoft Programming languages C#
and C++ in a Integrated Development Environment (IDE) called Visual Studio 2012.
Like Visual Basic Express 2010 and Visual Basic Express 2008 , Visual Basic Express 2012 is also a
full fledged Object-Oriented Programming(OOP) Language implemented on the VB.NET framework.
The Integrated Development Environment when you launch VB2012 Express is

Visual Basic Express 2013 is the version of Visual Basic launched by Microsoft in 2013. It is a fully
object-oriented programming language implemented on the .NET Framework. Similar to Visual Basic
2012, Visual Basic Express 2013 is integrated with other Microsoft Programming languages C# and
C++ in an IDE known as Visual Studio 2013.
The Integrated Development Environment when you launch Visual Studio 2013 Express

Visual Basic 2015 is the version of Visual Basic introduced by Microsoft in 2015. Microsoft has added
many new features particularly those features for building mobile applications. Visual Basic 2015 is a
full-fledged Object-Oriented Programming(OOP) Language implemented in the .NET
Framework. Visual Basic 2015 is bundled together with other Microsoft Programming languages C++,
F#, JavaScript, Python and more in an IDE called Visual Studio Community 2015. When you first
launch Visual Studio Community 2015, the following start Page appears,
Visual Basic 2017 is the latest version of Visual Basic launched by Microsoft in 2017. Visual Basic
2017 is bundled together with other Microsoft Programming languages C# C++, F#, JavaScript, Python
and other development tools in an integrated development environment called Visual Studio
Community 2017 Release Candidate. Microsoft has added many new features in Visual Studio 2017
particularly those features for building mobile applications and gaming as well as web and cloud-based
applications.
Visual Basic 2017 community, professional, Enterprise and Code types for download
When you first launch Visual Studio Community 2017, the following start Page appears, as shown
Microsoft has released Visual Studio 2019 in early 2019. VS 2019 allows you to code in different
programming languages and different platforms, Visual Basic 2019 is one of them. The other
Programming languages are C# C++, F#, JavaScript, Java and Python. Visual Basic 2019 is the latest
version VB.NET programming language released by Microsoft.

The VS2019 start page is quite different from VS 2017. When you first launch Visual Studio 2019, the
following start Page appears, as shown in Figure 1.1. You can quickly launch recently open recently
opened projects, clone from GitHub, open a project or solution, open a local folder or create a new
project.
Visual Studio 2022 is user-friendly and intuitive, with a wide range of features and capabilities

that make it easy to create professional-grade installation packages (EXE, MSI, MSIX, etc.).
Some of its key features include support for a wide range of platforms and formats,
integration with popular development tools and environments, and the ability to create
customizable and visually appealing installers
Chapter Three: Microsoft Visual Studio 2010

There are basically 3 different versions. Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate, Premium and Professional.