.NET Alphabet Soup and Key Concepts

• .NET Technology Overview and Features Overview for .NET Framework 1.1 by Microsoft
   
• The .NET Framework combines three major areas:
  • Common Language Runtime (CLR) -- responsible for executing .NET applications, security, memory management, language integration, and ensuring that all application dependencies are resolved
  • Unified Core Classes -- a set of classes that are used to build modern applications in a consistent manner across languages.  These classes support both web- and windows-based applications in the same way.
  • Presentation Classes -- comprised primarily of ASP.NET (for web-based applications and XML Services) and Windows Forms (for more traditional applications)
  • source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/techinfo/roadmap/dotnet.asp
     
• Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) -- essentially, the "kernal" of the .NET common language runtime.  The CLI has been "standardized" by the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) to enable other companies to implement the .NET Framework.
   
• Common Language Runtime (CLR).-- complete runtime environment for .NET applications
   
• Common Language Specification (CLS) -- enables multiple programming languages, as long as they adhere to the CLS in their output, to be used for .NET application development/compilation.
   
• Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL or IL) -- byte-code that results from compilations, AKA intermediate code.
   
• Assembly - a compiled program file that contains both MSIL and metadata about the application (version, etc.) -- in other words, assemblies are .EXE and .DLL files made to run in the .NET environment
   
• Global Assembly Cache (GAC) -- stores pointers to assemblies, similar to the registry.  However, in the .NET world, developers should not make a common practice of putting their .DLL files in the GAC.  This past practice, using the Windows\System or Windows\System32 directories\ created massive problems.  In other words, in .NET, all .DLL files should be "private" and should be kept in the application's directory by default instead of keeping them in a common system directory.
   
• Simplified Deployment (using XCopy or FTP) -- however, for XCOPY to catch on as the key means of deployment within an enterprise, the .NET CLR/CLI (framework) would need to be installed on all machines (about 21MB download, plus 7MB service pack as of 2/2003)
   
• ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) - "connected" data access -- a programmer would have to use ADO instead of ADO.NET to be able to do record locking, two-phase commits, rollbacks, etc.  ADO provides a fast and easy interface for accessing a variety of data sources.
   
• ADO.NET - "disconnected" data access -- includes DataAdapter and DataReader which can be used with a DataSet.
   
• DataSet Class-- an important new object type in the .NET environment that is a "special case" of an XMLDocument (essentially, a "disconnected" object)
   
• ASP.NET Server Controls - components that reside on the server
   
• For mobile device development, use the following tools:
  • .NET Compact Framework, which is a subset of the .NET framework that can be used to enable the development and execution of managed code on smart devices, including cell phones, PDAs, set-top boxes, and other embedded applications.  Also supports XML web services.
  • ASP.NET mobile controls (formerly known as the Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit) make it easy to deliver markup language to many different types of mobile devices.
    • Mobile Controls
    • Mobile Designer
    • Device Identification
  • Here is the article on "Mobile Web Development with ASP.NET" from MSDN
     
• Scalable: .NET can be used to manage sessions across both "web farms" (multi-CPU systems/clusters) and "web gardens" (for multi-process applications)
   
• Web services -- a new class of distributed applications and data services using standard protocols/architectures.  Key terms are UDDI, SOAP, WSDL, and XML.
   
• Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) -- a set of specs to facilitate B2B and other forms of electronic commerce.  For more information, see www.uddi.org and uddi.microsoft.com
   
• Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) --  a "lightweight and simple XML-based protocol that is designed to exchange structured and typed information on the web."  (see the MSDN page on SOAP).
   
• Web Service Description Language (WSDL) -- an "XML format for describing the network services offered by the server."  (see the MSDN page on "Understanding WSDL").
   
• eXtensible Markup Language (XML) -- a simple and flexible text format language that can be used to describe data.  Users/developers can create their own tags to delimit data fields.  See the XML Tutorial at http://www.w3schools.com/xml/default.asp or the www.w3.org/XML/ page for more detailed information.
   
• .NET COM Interop technology -- puts a .NET wrapper around COM components so that .NET-based applications can interact with existing legacy COM-based systems.
   
• EventLog Class -- lets you easily read, write, and manipulate Windows 2000 event logs.  Really handy for activity monitoring applications and auditing.
   
• PerformanceCounter Class -- can be used to read or publish performance data for either existing or custom counters.  The resulting performance counters can be viewed in the Windows 2000 System Monitor.
   
• ASP Net Matrix -- a free downloadable editor for those who don't want to purchase Visual Studio
   

Copyright 2003 Brian J. Reithel, Ph.D., CDP
All rights reserved.