The .NET Framework
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The .NET framework is a type-safe, garbage-collecting framework that  runs Intermediate Language ("IL") compliant programs.    The .NET framework provides the Common Language Runtime ("CLR") which provides Just-In-Time ("JIT") compiling of IL programs. 

The .NET framework provides a rich and robust object library for use by the IL programs.

The development of a .NET application is as follows:

  1. The programmer writes a program in whatever language they desire.
  2. A compiler converts that language into IL.
  3. At run-time, the .NET framework finishes the compiling the code to the native binary for the hardware and executes it.
  4. The framework provides any needed library objects plus manages threads, garbage collection, etc.

Any code that is run via the CLR is called "managed code".    Currently Visual Basic, C#, Scheme, Eiffel, Pascal, Fortran and Smalltalk are available as managed code, with more coming every day.   Note that C++ is not managed code! 

The .NET framework must be installed on any client machine that runs a .NET application.