.NET

From DmWiki

.NET (pronounced "dot-net") is a Microsoft-created software development framework. It is aimed at being able to very rapidly create cross-platform, possibly distributed applications in high-level languages. Programs are written in one of many .NET Languages. This code is then compiled to CIL (Common Intermediate Language) code. This "half-compiled" code is then executed on a Virtual Machine called the CLR (Common Language Runtime), which is similar to the JVM (Java Virtual Machine). The CLR converts the CIL code to native code when it is loaded, this is known as JIT (Just-In-Time) compiling. This means .NET programs can run on different platforms without recompilation.

The CLR also provides garbage collection, as well as a large class library, which due to the nature of CIL and the CLR can be used by any .NET Language. This applies to all classes and libraries written in a .NET language, they can be used by any .NET language.

.NET is a ECMA standard, and there are several implementations available: Microsoft's implementation for Windows & the open source implementation Mono (http://www.mono-project.com) which runs on Linux, Windows & MacOS X.

.NET is gaining great popularity among application developers and particularly web developers, though it is not yet very popular for games.

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