What Is .NET Framework?

.NET Framework Microsoft that provides primarily a standard program execution environment and a standard library:

• Common Language Runtime (CLR) - An application virtual machine that provides services such as security, memory management, and exception handling. Any application written using .NET Framework is called "managed code".
• Framework Class Library (FCL) - A standard library that implements the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI). A core component of FCL is the Base Class Library (BCL) which provides the most fundamental classes in namespaces System, System.CodeDom, System.Collections, System.Diagnostics, System.Globalization, System.IO, System.Resources and System.Text.

Versions and release dates of .NET Framework:

.NET Framework 4.7   04/05/17
.NET Framework 4.6   07/20/15
.NET Framework 4.5   08/15/12
.NET Framework 4.0   04/12/10
.NET Framework 3.5   11/19/07
.NET Framework 3.0   11/06/06
.NET Framework 2.0   11/07/05
.NET Framework 1.1   04/24/03
.NET Framework 1.0   02/13/02

The picture below shows you the NET Framework Component Stack:

For more information on .NET Framework, see Microsoft .NET Website.

⇒Using .NET Framework in Visual Studio

⇒⇒Visual Studio Tutorials