Developers Get First Look at .NET Framework

The .NET Framework is a set of APIs and services that offers developers a more reliable, simple, and Web-aware base than the current Windows environment. Microsoft is making radical changes to Visual Basic and introducing a new programming language (called C# and pronounced “C-sharp”) so that programmers can exploit the framework. Currently scheduled for a fall beta release, the .NET Framework represents a major break with Windows—as big as the leap from DOS to Windows. As Bill Gates put it: “A change like what you are witnessing in the .NET framework can only take place every five or six years.”

The .NET Framework consists of a service layer that controls running applications and an enormous library of code that builds on top of and essentially replaces the current Windows APIs (see the illustration “Where the .NET Framework Fits“). The framework is comparable to (and competes with) the Java platform, adapting many of the key concepts of that platform while retaining tight links to Windows.