We discuss some of the improved features of .NET in brief.
1. Object - oriented programming - Both the .NET Framework and C# are entirely based on object - oriented principles right from the start.
2. Good design - A base class library, which is designed from the ground up in a highly intuitive way.
3. Language independence - All of the languages - Visual Basic .NET, C#, J#, and managed C++ - compile to a common Intermediate Language . This means that languages are interoperable in a way that has not been seen before.
4. Strong support for dynamic Web pages - Though ASP offered a lot of flexibility, it was also inefficient because of its use of interpreted scripting languages, and the lack of object - oriented design often resulted in messy ASP code. .NET offers an integrated support for Web pages, using a new technology - ASP.NET. With ASP.NET, code in your pages is compiled, and may be written in a .NET - aware high - level language such as C# or Visual Basic 2008.
5. Efficient data access - A set of .NET components, collectively known as ADO.NET, provides efficient access to relational databases and a variety of data sources. Components are also available to allow access to the file system, and to directories. In particular, XML support is built into .NET, allowing you to manipulate data, which may be imported from or exported to non - Windows platforms.
6. Code sharing - .NET has completely revamped the way that code is shared between applications, introducing the concept of the assembly , which replaces the traditional DLL. Assemblies have formal facilities for versioning, and different versions of assemblies can exist
side by side.
7. Improved security - Each assembly can also contain built - in security information that can indicate precisely who or what category of user or process is allowed to call which methods on which classes. This gives you a very fine degree of control over how the assemblies that you deploy can be used.
8. Zero - impact installation - There are two types of assemblies: shared and private. Shared assemblies are common libraries available to all software, whereas private assemblies are intended only for use with particular software. A private assembly is entirely self - contained, so
the process of installing it is simple. There are no registry entries; the appropriate files are simply placed in the appropriate folder in the file system.
9. Support for Web services - .NET has fully integrated support for developing Web services as easily as you ' d develop any other type of application.