Programming in the .NET Environment

Not only does this book describe the goals and architecture of the .NET Framework, but it also demonstrates how it implements facilities and services to meet these goals. This book shows developers how to produce generic frameworks, libraries, classes, and tools to be used in the .NET Framework.

Damien Watkins is the founder of Project 42, a consulting company specializing in the development of Component Based Systems for the Internet. Until 2002 he was a lecturer at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Damien became involved with the development of the .NET Framework in 1998 when Microsoft invited Monash University to join Project 7, an early access program for .NET.

Mark Hammond has been an independent software consultant since 1995. He has produced many of the Windows extensions for Python, including PythonWin, Active Scripting and Active Debugging support, and coauthored the Python/COM framework and extensions. In 2000 he published his first book, Python Programming on Win32, and from 1999 through 2001 developed the first .NET implementation of the Python language.

Brad Abrams was a founding member of both the Common Language Runtime and .NET Framework teams at Microsoft, where he is currently a Lead Program Manager. Brad has been involved with WinFX and Windows Vista efforts from the beginning. His primary role is to ensure consistency and developer productivity of the .NET Framework through Vista and beyond. His popular blog can be found at http://blogs.msdn.com/BradA/.

Developing large distributed software systems is a complex and interesting challenge. A number of architectures have emerged to simplify this task and to relieve developers of the burden of dealing with the many interoperability issues associated with creating such systems. This book focuses on one of those architectures, Microsoft's .NET Framework.An often-asked question is, "So whatisnew in the .NET Framework?" On one level, the answer is simple: "Not much." To put this answer into context, however, the same may be said of most recent software advancements. For example, C++ represented a significant step forward--but it was actually an amalgamation taking advantage of the object-oriented concepts of Simula 67 and the efficiency of C. Likewise, Java contained very little new science, with the concepts of virtual machines and class libraries having been commonplace for many years. So how, then, do these advancements contribute to the computing body of knowledge? Often they exploit synergy--that is, the combination of known technologies in a new and different manner that allows developers to bring together two powerful concepts in a single architecture. So it is with the .NET Framework. Although significant benefits can be gained by using the framework, many readers will be relieved to see that the environment includes many familiar concepts, although their implementation may have changed.For example, a major concept pervading the .NET Framework is object orientation. Recently, this paradigm has won enormous acceptance in many areas, ranging from graphic user interface (GUI) development to network programming. The .NET Framework supports all of the object-oriented concepts, including classification, information hiding, inheritance, and polymorphism. What is new in the .NET Framework is the elimination of language boundaries that have hampered object orientation in the past. The framework also extends these concepts in concert with other concepts. For example, inheritance can be subject to security constraints; just because you can use a type, it may not follow that you can subtype from that type. Intended Audience for This BookIt is important to understand the audience for whom this book was written so that you can know whether this book is for you. This book is targeted at software developers who wish to Understand the philosophy and architecture of the .NET Framework, Produce generic frameworks, libraries, classes, and tools to be used in the .NET Framework, and Use multiple languages to develop applications in the .NET Framework.As this book is geared toward software developers, it not only describes the goals and architecture of the .NET Framework but also demonstrates how the technology implements features and services to meet these goals. Understanding the philosophy and architecture of .NET is important for all distributed system developers, even if they do not use the .NET Framework. Why? Because the .NET Framework represents Microsoft's vision of distributed systems development for the Internet. By understanding the architecture of the .NET Framework, developers gain insight into the issues associated with distributed systems development and Microsoft's solution to these issues.Once developers have an understanding of the .NET Framework's architecture, the next step is to develop software that takes advantage of it. The .NET Framework is not an abstract programming model, but rather a full-featured system that allows developers to implement their solutions and then make them available to other developers in a robust and secure environment. As the .NET Framework is language agnostic, developers can use the right language to develop parts of a system and then merge these parts together at runtime, regardless of any language differences.So who is this booknotfor? It is not an introduction to programming; readers should have