Definition of .NET

.NET framework can be defined as an infrastructure for programming that was developed by Microsoft. This framework is used for the purpose of creating, running, and deploying services and applications that make use of the .NET technologies, including web services and desktop applications. The .NET Framework consists of three main components:

  • The Common Language Runtime.
  • The Framework Class Library.
  • NET.

History of .NET

The work on the development of .NET framework was initiated by Microsoft in the end of 1990s. The original work on this framework was done under head of Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS). The first prototype version of .NET framework, called the .NET 1.0, was released in the late 2000s.

Intel, Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard started the work on the standardization of C# and Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) in August 2000. Both of these became approved standards of ECMA by December 2001.

It was announced by Microsoft on 3rd of October 2007, that the source code for .NET Framework, version 3.5 libraries will be provided under the Microsoft Reference Source License (Ms-RSL[a]). The repository of source code was made available online on 16th of January 2008. The repository consisted of ASP.NET, BCL, Windows Forms, ADO.NET, XML, and WPF. It was indicated by Scott Guthrie, who was an employee of Microsoft; that libraries of WF, LINQ, and WCF were in the process of being included in the repository.

On 12th of November 2014, .NET Core was released by Microsoft. This was done to provide cross platform support to .NET framework. In the same month, an update on the patent grants of Microsoft was also produced. The announcement made by Microsoft on 31st of March, 2016 indicated that the previously developed Mono Project of Microsoft will now be made a part of the .NET Foundation. This announcement came shortly after the event of Xamarin’s acquisition by Microsoft. The process of acquisition began in the month of February 2016 and was finalized on 18th of March 2016.

It was highlighted by the press lease of Microsoft that the development of a cross platform commitment and support has enabled the company to develop a completely open source, and advanced server-side stack of .NET. On the other hand, it has also been indicated that Microsoft does not have any intentions of releasing the source associated with Windows Forms as well as WPF.

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