Dotnet FAQ - PART 1

1. What is .NET Framework?
The .NET Framework has two main components: the common language runtime and the .NET Framework class library.You can think of the runtime as an agent that manages code at execution time, providing core services such as memory management, thread management, and remoting, while also enforcing strict type safety and other forms of code accuracy that ensure security and robustness.The class library, is a comprehensive, object-oriented collection of reusable types that you can use to develop applications ranging from traditional command-line or graphical user interface (GUI) applications to applications based on the latest innovations provided by ASP.NET, such as Web Forms and XML Web services.
2. What is CLR, CTS, CLS?
The .NET Framework provides a runtime environment called the Common Language Runtime or CLR (similar to the Java Virtual Machine or JVM in Java), which handles the execution of code and provides useful services for the implementation of the program. CLR takes care of code management at program execution and provides various beneficial services such as memory management, thread management, security management, code verification, compilation, and other system services. The managed code that targets CLR benefits from useful features such as cross-language integration, cross-language exception handling, versioning, enhanced security, deployment support, and debugging. Common Type System (CTS) describes how types are declared, used and managed in the runtime and facilitates cross-language integration, type safety, and high performance code execution. The CLS is simply a specification that defines the rules to support language integration in such a way that programs written in any language, yet can interoperate with one another, taking full advantage of inheritance, polymorphism, exceptions, and other features. These rules and the specification are documented in the ECMA proposed standard document, "Partition I Architecture", http://msdn.microsoft.com/net/ecma/