Introduction
WCF(Code named indigo) stands for Windows Communication Foundation. It released as part of .NET 3.0. There are so many approaches by using this we can build the distributed applications, some approaches are listed below
- .NET Remoting
- Web services
- Message Queuing (MSMQ)
- COM+/Enterprise Services
But WCF is contains all above features, means WCF is the unified programming model which combines all different different approaches which are listed above. WCF provides us a common platform for all .NET communication.
Following figures shows the different technology which WCF contains
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In simple WCF is nothing but a Microsoft platform for building distributed, interoperable, and service-oriented applications.
Now first we understand what is distributed and interoperable application.
Distributed Applications: In simple words, distributed applications are that type of application where parts of it run on 2 and more computers nodes.
For Example: Suppose a web service/ remoting service is running on one machine and that service is consuming by other machine.
Interoperable Applications: An application that can communicate with any other application that is build on any platform, and using any programming language that is called interoperable application. Like web services can communicate with any web application or any platform where as .NET remoting service cannot interoperable because .NET remoting service can be consumed by only .net applicaion.
Advantages of WCF
- Interoperable
- Distributed
- Provides reliability
- Provides Security
- Has integrated logging mechanism