dot.NET.Framework.Essentials.1002003,.3Ed [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

1.2 The .NET Platform

The
Microsoft .NET platform consists of five main components, as shown in
Figure 1-1. At the lowest layer lies the
operating system (OS), which can be one
of a variety of Windows platforms, including
Windows XP,
Windows 2000,
Windows Server 2003, Windows ME, and Windows CE. As part of the .NET strategy,
Microsoft has promised to deliver more .NET device software to
facilitate a new generation of smart devices.

Figure 1-1. The Microsoft .NET platform

On top of the operating system is a collection of
specialized server products that shortens the time required to
develop large-scale business systems. These server products include
Application Center,
BizTalk
Server, Commerce Server,
Exchange Server, Host Integration Server,
Internet
Security and Acceleration Server, and
SQL Server.

Since web services are highly reusable
across the Web, Microsoft provides a number of building-block
services (officially called .NET Services) that applications
developers can use, for a fee. Two examples of .NET Services that
Microsoft offers include .NET Passport and .NET Alerts. .NET Passport
allows you to use a single username and password at all web sites
that support Passport authentication. .NET Alerts allow .NET Alert
providers, such as a business, to alert their consumers with
important or up-to-the-minute information. Microsoft plans to add
newer services, such as calendar, directory, and search services.
Third-party vendors are also creating new web services of their own.

The top layer of the .NET architecture is a development tool called

Visual Studio .NET
(VS.NET), which makes possible the rapid development of web services
and other applications. A successor to Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0,
VS.NET is an Integrated
Development Environment (IDE) that supports four different languages
and features such as cross-language debugging and the
XML Schema Editor.

And at the center of .NET is the Microsoft .NET Frameworkthe
main focus of this book. The .NET Framework is a development and
runtime infrastructure that changes the development of business
applications on the Windows platform. The .NET Framework
includes the CLR and a common
framework of classes that can be used by all .NET languages.