Unit I

Chapter 1
Introduction to .net
• What is .Net?
• .Net Framework
• CLR
• Visual Studio.Net & .Net Languages
• Integrated Development Environment
• Project types
• C#.Net history & design Goals
• How C# differs from C++
Introduction to .Net or What is .Net?

• Microsoft .Net is a software component that runs

on Windows Operating system
• .Net provides tools and libraries that enable the
developers to build Windows applications faster
and easier.
• The .Net platform is an integral component of the
Microsoft Windows for building and running next
generation software applications and web
services.
Advantages of .Net

• Multilanguage support
• Automatic resource management
• Simplification of application deployment
• Security
• Object oriented model
.Net Framework
This is an application execution environment
which is ideal for the development, deployment
and execution of applications on Windows
platform.
ASP.NET Windows Forms
(Web services) (User interface)

Framework base classes

Common Language Runtime(CLR)

Figure: Architecture of .Net framework

These are:

1.Common Language Runtime(CLR)

2.Framework base classes or Base Class

Library (BCL)

3. User and program interface

1. Common Language Runtime(CLR)

• It is responsible for loading and running all .net

programs

• It is fully protected from the outside environment

and it is highly optimized

• C#.net program  C#.net compiler MSIL

codeCLR(Just-In-Time compiler)Native or machine
code
• Language compiler (Ex. compiler of C# or VB.Net)

will convert the code to Microsoft Intermediate

Language (MSIL) in turn this will be converted

into native code by CLR.

Functions of CLR
• Loads and executes program

• Converts MSIL code to native machine code

• Isolates memory for applications

• Manages memory and objects (automatic garbage

collector)
• Manages exceptions

• Provides type checking

CLR includes:

a. Common Type System(CTS)

b. Common Language Specification(CLS)

c. Microsoft Intermediate Language(MSIL)

d. Managed Code
a. Common Type System(CTS)

• The .Net framework supports multiple

languages by using CTS.
• CTS defines a set of data types that can be used
in common.
• It ensures that objects written in different

languages can interact with each other

The CTS supports two categories of types. These
are:

1) Value types
• Ex. int, float, double etc.

2) Reference types
• Ex. class, interface, delegate, string etc.
b. Common Language Specification(CLS)

• The CLS defines a set of rules that enable

interoperability on the .net platform.

• The CLS is a subset of CTS and therefore the

languages supporting CLS can use each other
class libraries as if they are their own.
c. Microsoft Intermediate Language(MSIL)

• MSIL is an instruction set into which all .Net programs are

compiled.
• It contains instructions for loading, storing, initializing
and calling methods.

JIT compilation:
• Before executing on the target machine, MSIL has to be
translated into the machines native code.
• This can either be done before the application is called or
at runtime.
• At runtime, the translation is done by a Just–In-Time
Compiler(JIT)
d. Managed code
• Data that is under the control of the CLR garbage
collection process is called managed code. OR
• The code that satisfies the CLR at run time is
called as managed code.
2. Framework base classes or Base Class Library

• It is also known as Base Class Library(BCL)

• .Net framework class library (FCL) is a set of

managed classes that provide access to system
services.

Ex. Input/output, database access etc.

• These managed classes of FCL are divided into
separate namespaces based on functionality.
• Example: classes used for local pertaining
input/output can be found in the namespace
System.
• The developers can use these classes to develop
their applications quickly by:
 invoking them or

 inheriting them to derived classes for extending

their functionality.
System.Console.WriteLine(“Hello”);

Class name
Namespace Method name
name
3.User and program interfaces

The .Net framework provides the following tools for managing user and
application interfaces:
i) Windows forms:
Ex. Windows forms (C#.Net, VB.Net) is the form generator for client-side
applications.
ii) Console applications:
Ex. Console applications are useful for logging or other text based
activities.
iii) Web Forms:
Ex. ASP.Net is used to create dynamic Web applications.
• These tools enable users to develop user friendly
desktop as well as web based applications using
a wide variety of languages on the .Net platform.
.Net Languages
We can use number of languages for
developing .Net applications .These are:

• Visual Basic

• Visual C++

• Visual C#
History of C#

The first version of C# .Net was developed by

a team under the leadership of
Anders Hejlsberg
at Microsoft in 2002.
 • Project types:
Project type description

Class Library -A class library is a basic code building

component which can not be executed and it
does not have visible interface

-It contains component & libraries to be used

inside other applications.

Windows Control -If the controls that come with Visual Studio
Library don’t provide the functionality as per our
requirement then we can build our own custom
controls.

-It contains user defined windows control to be

used by windows application
Project type Description

Console -A console application is an application with a

application very limited user interface.

-This type of application displays its output on a

command window and receive input from the
same window.

Windows Forms A windows forms application is used to develop

Application an user interactive application for database
handling, for creating calculator, for creating
applications like Wordpad, Notepad etc.
Project type Description

Windows Service These applications are the long running

application that don’t have a visible interface.
These services can be started automatically
when the computer is turned on, paused and
restarted.

ASP.Net web Web applications are the programs that can be

application run inside some web server(e.g. IIS-Internet
Information Server) to fulfill user requests.

ASP.Net web Web services are the web applications that

service provide services to other applications over the
internet.
Project type Description
Web control library Web control library contained
user defined web controls to be
used by web applications.
 How C# differs from C++
C++ C#
C++ is a middle level language C# is an object oriented language

When compiled, C++ code is When compiled, C#.net code is

converted into assembly code converted into intermediate
C++ program C++ compiler language code. This intermediate
Assembly code Assembler code is converted into native
Native code code through the process called
Just-In-Time Compilation.

In C++, the memory i.e. allocated In C#, memory management is

in the heap dynamically has to be automatically handled by garbage
explicitly deleted. collector.
 C++ C#

In C++ switch statement, test In C# switch statement , the test

variable can not be a string. variable can be a string.

In C++ switch statement ,when In C#, switch statement when

break statement is not given the break statement is not given ,the
fall-through will happen to the fall through will not happen to
next case statement even if the the next case statement if the
current case statement has any current case statement has any
code. code.

C++ does not contain foreach In addition to for, while and

statement do_while, C# has another flow
control statement called foreach.
 C++ C#
In C++, the end of the class In C#, the end of the class
definition has a closing brace } definition has a closing brace}
followed by a semicolon. only.
In C++, the access specifiers are In C#, access specifiers are public,
public, private and protected. private, protected, internal and
protected internal.

C++ does not have finally block C# has finally block in exception
in exception handling. handling .The code statement in
the finally block will be executed
irrespective of exception
occurrence.
C++ has the concept of function C# does not have the concept of
pointer. function pointer. C# has a similar
concept called delegate.
• Characteristics of C#.Net

1. Simple
2. Consistent CTS
3. Modern
4. Object oriented
5. Type safe
6. Versioning
7. Compatible languages concepts
1. Simple
• C# simplifies C++ by eliminating complex operators
like ::,,.*,::* etc. and pointer concept.

2. Consistent
• C# supports a Common Type System which
eliminates the problem of varying ranges of data
types.
• C# treats the data types as per their use and range.
• It also allows the developers to extend the type
system.
3. Modern

• C# is called a modern language due to a number of

features it supports such as:

• Automatic garbage collection

• Rich model for error handling

• Modern approach to debugging

• Robust security model

4. Object oriented
• C# is truly object oriented. It supports all the
concepts of object oriented systems including:
• Encapsulation

• Inheritance

• Polymorphism
5. Type safe

• C# reports a number of type safe measures on

dynamically allocated objects.
• Use of any uninitialized variable produces an
error message by the compiler.
• Access to arrays are range checked and warned
if it goes out of bound.
• It enforces overflow checking in arithmetic
operations.
6. Versioning
• Making new versions of software modules to work
with the existing application is known as
versioning.
• C# provides support for versioning.

7. Compatible
C# enforces the .Net Common Language
Specification(CLS) and therefore allows
interoperation with other .Net languages.