headerLinks

One framework, multiple languages: .NET introduces a Common Type System (CTS) that defines all possible data types and programming constructs supported and how these may interact with each other. This allows .NET to support multiple application development programming languages, including C#, F# or Visual Basic.

CLR - Common Language Runtime: All the programming Languages in .NET are compiled into an intermediate language known as Common Intermediate Language (CIL). This intermediate language is not interpreted but compiled to native code in a way known as Just In Time compilation (JIT). The combination of these is called Common Language Infrastructure (CLI).

Interoperability: Often, interaction between new and old applications is required. The .NET Framework provides a way to access features that are implemented in programs that run outside the .NET environment.

Base Class Library: The Base Class Library (BCL) is a type library available for all languages that use .NET. The BCL provides classes that encapsulate many common functions, including reading and writing files, image design, database interaction, XML and JSON manipulation, etc.

Security: .NET allows code to run in different levels of security without the use of a separate security mechanism.

Automatic Resource Management: .NET CLR automatically manages memory, network, database connections, etc. It invokes built-in functions to allocate and deallocate the memory used by objects during runtime. This removes the burden of managing memory from the developer.

Portability: Applications written in any .NET language are portable. That means that when the source code of a program written in a CLR compliant language compiles, it generates machine-independent, intermediate code. It’s also possible to mix and match code written in the languages supported by the framework.

Easy and rich profiling and debugging support: Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code provide a place to develop and debug .NET applications. The framework provides rich debugging and profiling information which is highly integrated within these IDEs. This helps us to check the application performance and track down runtime exceptions.

Deployment made easy: When it’s time for application deployment, the developer has plenty of options to package the app depending on the desired deployment environment (desktop, mobile, cloud, etc.).

Generics, partial classes, anonymous types, iterators, nullable types, static classes, delegate interface.

Implicit types, object and collection initializers, auto-implemented properties, extension methods, query and lambda expressions, expression trees, partial methods.&nbsp;

Dynamic binding, named and optional arguments, generic covariance and contravariance, embedded interop types.

<a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/concepts/async/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Asynchronous tasks with async and await</a> (task asynchronous programming model).&nbsp;

Roslyn (compiler-as-a-service), exception filters, await in catch/finally block, auto property initializer, string interpolation, name of the operator, dictionary initializer.

Tuples, pattern matching, record types, local functions.

Using declarations, nullable reference types, async streams, null-coalescing assignments.

height

width

level

A desktop computer with .net technologies around clouds, databases, files, and graphs

Working Desk with 3D windows with different graphs, code and .NET tools

Technologies and Tools for .NET Developers

.Net is an open-source software development platform built by Microsoft. It allows us to build cross-platform software products that run on Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, etc.

What is .NET?

It’s used for creating different types of applications and services and provides the necessary programming environment for all software development phases. It is a great fit for businesses and individuals who want to develop a wide range of software products, from desktop and mobile apps to web apps and cloud-powered services.

What is .NET used for?

Because of the vast array of use cases and applications, .NET has a steep learning curve. However, since it is open-source, has its own GitHub repository, and even a .Net Tutorials page, all the information that a developer could want is readily available. 

Back-end Developers

Front-end Developers

Mobile Developers

An Introduction to Microsoft .NET Framework & Its Main Features

What is .NET?

What is .NET used for?

Is .NET hard for beginners?

Looking to hire?

Join our newsletter

Read Next

Technologies and Tools for .NET Developers

Let's work together on your next software project