LNMI-Visual Programming-Introduction of .

Net

ASP stands for Active Server Pages

ASP is a development framework for building web pages.

ASP supports many different development models:

 Classic ASP
 ASP.NET Web Forms
 ASP.NET MVC
 ASP.NET Web Pages
 ASP.NET API
 ASP.NET Core

ASP.NET
 ASP.NET was released in 2002 as a successor to Classic ASP.
 ASP.NET pages have the extension .aspx and are normally written in C# (C
sharp).
 ASP.NET 4.6 is the latest official version of ASP.NET.
 ASP.NET 5 was expected to be an important redesign of ASP.NET.
However, the development of ASP.NET 5 was stopped in favor of ASP.NET
Core.

What is Asp.net
Asp.net is a web framework designed and developed by Microsoft. It is used to develop
dynamic responsive websites, web applications for PC, as well as mobile devices, and
web services. It provides fantastic integration of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It was first
released in January 2002. It is built on the Common Language Runtime (CLR) and
allows programmers to write code using any supported .NET language.
ASP.NET is a part of Microsoft .NET Framework.

What is .NET Framework

.NET is the framework for which we develop applications. It sits in between
our application programs and operating system. Applications developed for .NET run
inside .NET and are controlled by .NET. It supports both Windows and web applications.
.NET provides an object oriented environment. It ensures safe execution of the code by
performing required runtime validations. For example, it is never possible to access an
element of an array outside the boundary. Similarly, it is not possible to a program to
write into another programs area, etc. The runtime validations performed by .NET makes
the entire environment robust.

13
LNMI-Visual Programming-Introduction of .Net

What are Components of .Net Framework

.Net Framework is a platform that provides tools and technologies to develop
Windows, Web and Enterprise applications. It mainly contains two components,
1. Common Language Runtime (CLR)
.Net Framework provides runtime environment called Common Language Runtime
(CLR). It provides an
environment to run all the .Net
Programs. The code which runs
under the CLR is called as
Managed Code. Programmers
need not to worry on managing
the memory if the programs are
running under the CLR as it
provides memory management
and thread management.
Programmatically,
when our program needs memory,
CLR allocates the memory for scope and de-allocates the memory if the scope is
completed. When the managed code is compiled, the compiler converts the source
code into a CPU independent Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) code. A
Just In Time(JIT) compiler compiles the MSIL code into native code, which is
CPU specific. It performs memory management, exception handling,
debugging, security checking, thread execution, code execution, code safety,
verification, and compilation.
There are currently over 15 language compilers being built by Microsoft
and other companies also producing the code that will execute under CLR.
2. .Net Framework Class Library (FCL)
This is also called as Base Class Library(BCL) and it is common for all types of
applications i.e. the way you access the Library Classes and Methods in VB.NET
will be the same in C#, and it is common for all other languages in .NET. It
contains a huge library of reusable types. classes, interfaces, structures, and
enumerated values, which are collectively called types.
Different types of applications that can make use of .net class library:
a. Windows Application. d. Console Application
b. Web Application. e. XML Web Services.
c. Windows Services.
In short, developers just need to import the BCL in their language code and use its
predefined methods and properties to implement common and complex functions
like reading and writing to file, graphic rendering, database interaction, and XML
document manipulation.

14
LNMI-Visual Programming-Introduction of .Net

Below are the few more concepts that we need to know and understand as part of
this .Net framework.
3. Common Type System (CTS)
It describes set of data types that can be used in different .Net languages in
common. (i.e), CTS ensures that objects written in different .Net languages can
interact with each other.
For Communicating between programs written in any .NET complaint language,
the types have to be compatible on the basic level.
The common type system supports two general categories of types:
Value types:
Value types directly contain their data, and instances of value types are either
allocated on the stack or allocated inline in a structure. Value types can be built-in
(implemented by the runtime), user-defined, or enumerations.
Reference types:
Reference types store a reference to the value's memory address, and are allocated
on the heap. Reference types can be self-describing types, pointer types, or
interface types. The type of a reference type can be determined from values of self-
describing types. Self-describing types are further split into arrays and class types.
The class types are user-defined classes, boxed value types, and delegates.
4. Common Language Specification (CLS)
It is a sub set of CTS and it specifies a set of rules that needs to be adhered or
satisfied by all language compilers targeting CLR. It helps in cross language
inheritance and cross language debugging.
Common language specification Rules:
It describes the minimal and complete set of features to produce code that can be
hosted by CLR. It ensures that products of compilers will work properly in .NET
environment. Sample Rules:
a. Representation of text strings
b. Internal representation of enumerations
c. Definition of static members and this is a subset of the CTS which all
.NET languages are expected to support.
d. Microsoft has defined CLS which are nothing but guidelines that
language to follow so that it can communicate with other .NET
languages in a seamless manner.
5. Windows Forms : Windows Forms contain the graphical representation
of any window displayed in the application.
6. ADO.NET: ADO.NET provides a bridge between the front end controls
and the back end database. The ADO.NET objects encapsulate all the data
access operations and the controls interact with these objects to display
data, thus hiding the details of movement of data.

15
LNMI-Visual Programming-Introduction of .Net

7. Web Service: A web service is a web-based functionality accessed using

the protocols of the web to be used by the web applications.
8. Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF): It provides a separation
between the user interface and the business logic. It helps in developing
visually stunning interfaces using documents, media, two and three
dimensional graphics, animations, and more.
9. Windows Communication Foundation (WCF): It is the technology
used for building and executing connected systems.
10. Windows Workflow Foundation (WF): It helps in building workflow-
based applications in Windows. It contains activities, workflow runtime,
workflow designer, and a rules engine.
11. Microsoft Windows Card Space (WCS): It provides safety for
accessing resources and sharing personal information on the internet.
12. LINQ :It imparts data querying capabilities to .Net languages using a
syntax which is similar to the tradition query language SQL.
13. Entity Framework: Entity Framework is an object-relational mapper
(O/RM) that enables .NET developers to work with a database using
.NET objects. It eliminates the need for most of the data-access code that
developers usually need to write.
14. REST: Representational State Transfer is intended to evoke an image of
how a well-designed Web application behaves: a network of web pages (a
virtual state-machine), where the user progresses through an application
by selecting links (state transitions), resulting in the next page
(representing the next state of the application) being transferred to the
user and rendered for their use." Systems that follow Fielding’s REST
principles are commonly known as “RESTful”;
15. AJAX:AJAX stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. This is a
cross platform technology which speeds up response time. The AJAX
server controls add script to the page which is executed and processed by
the browser.
16. PLINQ: Parallel LINQ (PLINQ) is a parallel implementation of the
LINQ pattern.
17. Task Parallel Library: The Task Parallel Library (TPL) is a set of
public types and APIs in
the System.Threading and System.Threading.Tasks namespaces. The
purpose of the TPL is to make developers more productive by simplifying
the process of adding parallelism and concurrency to applications

16
LNMI-Visual Programming-Introduction of .Net

Below mentioned the .Net Architecture stack for easy understanding:

17