NET

 NET

NET is Microsoft's component based architecture that's used to develop large scale distributed software systems. The highlight of the .NET platform is its ability to support multiple programming languages Programs developed in different supported languages such as C++, Visual Basic, Python can inter operate using NET framework.

                        

 At the heart of .NET framework is a Common Language Runtime (CLR) that takes care of issues such as metadata (how to pass information to compilers and runtimes) and type systems (how a certain data type such as integer is defined in a language).

CLR has an execution system a virtual machine to run .NET based applications.

It also provides a set of libraries called the Base Framework, which provides classes and functions to be used by programmers.

 

 

.NET is often regarded as Microsoft's answer to the Java platform.

The key difference is that Java programs can run on many platforms such as Windows, UNIX, Linux, etc. while .NET based programs are restricted to Microsoft's operating system though they can be written in a number of languages. Microsoft has also developed a new language, C# (pronounced as C that fully conforms to .NET specifications.