Introducing C# and the .NET Framework - A World of .NET
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You will find this expression a lot in my articles. Microsoft realized that, if their .NET Technology is exclusive only to Microsoft, then .NET will not make such an impact in the world of software development. But the folks at Microsoft are very clever. Microsoft submitted large parts of the .NET Technology to the EMCA to become EMCA standards. Microsoft has submitted the C# Specifications, the Microsoft Intermediate Language Specifications, the Metadata, and a large part of the FCL (.NET Framework Class Library).
Think about it. Now vendors who design compilers, programming languages and development tools can use these specifications to create compilers for their own languages to integrate with the .NET Technology, and the benefits are huge. As you know, each programming language has its own syntax, control structures and building block mechanisms, and this gives each programming language its own set of features and drawbacks. For example, C# is a very appropriate language for I/O, and APL is very appropriate for mathematical calculations. If you are able to use both languages to develop one application, it would be a great feature and a big move in software development.
This is now possible because compiler designers can use the .NET Specifications and write compilers for their programming languages to produce Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) code that's managed by the runtime. Now you can use Visual Basic, C#, Managed C++ and APL in one application, and use the features of all of these programming languages. In short, .NET brings a lot of possibilities to software development. The expression "a .NET Complaint Programming Language" is very important to understand. If the language has a compiler that produces MSIL, then it's a .NET Compliant Language, and we will see how this is possible through the use of CTS and CLS standards.
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