INTRODUCTION

The .NET Framework is an integral Windows component that supports building and running the next generation of applications and XML Web services. It includes a large library of pre-coded solutions to common programming problems and a virtual machine that manages the execution of programs written specifically for the framework. The .NET Framework is a key Microsoft offering and is intended to be used by most new applications created for the Windows platform.
The .NET Framework has two main components: the common language runtime and the .NET Framework class library. These will be discussed in a later stage.