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The .NET Framework

2:34 with Jay McGavren

We've been running our C# programs with the command `dotnet run`. So what is this .NET, exactly?

We've been running our C# programs with the command dotnet run. So what is this .NET, exactly?

.NET is a framework developed by Microsoft with the intent to improve on earlier work by Sun Microsystems with Java and its "virtual machine". .NET is a platform that can run programs written in various languages, including C#, F#, and Visual Basic.

.NET Framework Languages

  • C#
  • F#
  • Visual Basic

C#, F#, and Visual Basic all compile down to an intermediate language, which is handled by the .NET Common Language Runtime, or CLR. This intermediate language isn't intended to be written or read by humans, and it can't be executed directly a computer processor, either. The CLR is responsible for compiling the intermediate language into machine language, which a computer processor can run.

This used to mean that your users would have to download and install .NET in order to run your finished program. But now it's possible to create a self-contained deployment: an executable that contains the .NET runtime so it can run all by itself, without .NET installed on the target system. Because self contained deployments include the .NET runtime, they're a bit larger in size, so it's also still possible to create a framework-dependent deployment. These require your users to install the .NET runtime separately, but they're also a bit smaller.

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    We've been running our C# programs with the command dotnet run. 0:00
    So what is this dotnet exactly? 0:04
    .NET is a framework developed by Microsoft with the intent to improve on earlier work 0:07
    by Sun Microsystems with Java and its virtual machine. 0:12
    .NET is a platform that can run programs written in various languages including C#, 0:17
    F#, and Visual Basic. 0:22
    C# is primarily an object-oriented programming language and 0:24
    it's the most popular language on the.net platform. 0:28
    F# is primarily a functional language. 0:31
    And Visual Basic is a more simplistic language intended for beginning coders. 0:35
    Which is not to say Visual Basic is a more appropriate choice for learning to code. 0:39
    You can definitely learn C# as your first programming language. 0:43
    And since C# is much more popular, 0:47
    there's really no reason to bother with Visual Basic if you don't want to. 0:50
    C#, F#, and Visual Basic all compiled down to an intermediate language 0:54
    which is handled by the .NET common language runtime or CLR. 0:59
    This intermediate language isn't intended to be written or read by humans and 1:04
    it can't be executed directly on a computer processor either. 1:09
    The CLR is responsible for compiling the intermediate language into machine 1:12
    language which a computer processor can run. 1:16
    This used to mean that your users would have to download and 1:19
    install dotnet in order to run your finished program. 1:22
    But now it's possible to create a self contained deployment and 1:26
    executable that contains the .NET runtime so 1:29
    it can run all by itself without .net installed on the target system. 1:32
    Because self contained 10 deployments include the .net runtime, 1:38
    they're a bit larger in size. 1:41
    So it's also still possible to create a framework dependent deployment. 1:43
    These require your users to install the .NET runtime separately, but 1:47
    they're also a bit smaller. 1:51
    So why go to all this trouble? 1:54
    The promise of .NET is the ability to write code once and 1:56
    have it run on any compatible operating system. 1:59
    .NET compatible implementations are available for Windows, MacOS, Linux, 2:03
    and even iOS and Android. 2:08
    It's not quite as simple as being able to write a single program and have it run on 2:10
    all these platforms, but you'll definitely be able to reuse portions of your code. 2:14
    Hopefully this clears up some confusion. 2:19
    .NET is not the same as C# and 2:21
    it is not an alternative to C# because it isn't a programming language. 2:23
    It's the framework that is used to run code written in C# and other languages. 2:27

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