.NET History and its Improvements in new Versions

What is .NET Framework?

.NET Framework is a technology (Framework)..NET Framework was introduced By Microsoft. It supports so many languages Like, C#, VB, ASP.

History of .NET Framework(Why it was developed)?

The Basic Reason of developing .NET was to compete with Java Language of sun Microsystems which was very popular language at that time. From 1990 Microsoft start working on .NET framework. Initially it  was named NGWS (Next Generation Windows Services).After 2000, Microsoft launched initial version of .NET.

New Features of .NET Framework 2.0:

64-Bit Platform Support :

The new generation of 64-bit computers enables the creation of applications that can run faster and take advantage of more memory than is available to 32-bit applications. It was very important to give such support.

Access Control List Support:

An access control list (ACL) is used to grant permission to access a resource on a computer. It was a new classes that was added to the .NET Framework that allows managed code to create and modify an ACL(Access control list).

ADO.NET:

ADO stands for ActiveX Data Object. New features in ADO.NET include support for user-defined types (UDT), asynchronous database operations, XML data types, large value types, snapshot isolation, and new attributes that allow applications to support multiple active result sets (MARS) with SQL Server 2005.

ASP.NET:

New data controls make it possible to display and edit data on an ASP.NET Web page without writing code (Drag and drop). An improved code-behind model makes developing ASP.NET pages easier.

Console Class Additions:

New members of the Console class enable applications to manipulate the dimensions of the console window and screen buffer. To move a rectangular area of the screen buffer, which is useful for performing smooth, simple animation, and to wait while reading console input until a key is pressed.

Data Protection API:

The new Data Protection API  includes four methods that allow applications to encrypt passwords, keys, connections strings, without calling platform invoke. You can also encrypt blocks of memory on computers running Windows Server 2003 or later operating systems.

Distributed Computing:

In the System.Net namespace, support has been added for FTP client requests, caching of HTTP resources, automatic proxy discovery, and obtaining network traffic and statistical information. The namespace now includes a Web server class (HttpListener) that you can use to create a simple Web server for responding to HTTP requests

Globalization:

5 new globalization features provide greater support for developing applications intended for different languages.

 Serial I/O Device Support:

The new SerialPort class provides applications with the ability to access the serial ports on a computer and to communicate with serial I/O devices.

Threading Improvements:

You can now name cross-process communication events that are created purely in managed code.

Trace Data Filtering:

The .NET Framework 2.0 provides classes that trace and log system events related to I/O, application startup and shutdown. However, the enormous volume and diverse types of trace information make it difficult for users to analyze this data. New support for trace data filtering enables you to specify the type of information to log.

Web Services:

When consuming two or more Web services that define a shared type, the client proxies generated for those Web services share the corresponding type on the client. You can now invoke Web methods asynchronously using an event-based programming pattern.

New Features of .NET Framework 3.0:

The .NET 3.0 introducing four new foundation technologies:

1:Windows Workflow Foundation (WF):

Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF) is a Microsoft technology for defining, executing, and managing workflows. Workflow as it name implies. It shows the flow of work; mean how the work is going, how activities are performing. WF provides such a common workflow technology for Windows.

2: Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF):

The (WPF), is the graphical subsystem feature of the .NET Framework 3.0. WPF is a consistent programming model for building solutions, and enables the use of richer controls, design, and development in Windows programs.

3: Windows Communication Foundation (WCF):

WCF means programmers can communicate between each other either they are on same computer or in networking .Windows Communication Foundation is a communications infrastructure built around the Web services architecture. When the application becomes built then most of the application need to communication between each other. This was a big problem in last few years, so all vendors becomes agreed to support SOAP based web services, which make interoperability between application, either they are from same platforms or different platforms.

4:Windows CardSpace (WCS):

WCS is a Digital Identity to online services. Digital Identity means how user will electronically represent them. Like as a debit/credit card each card has digital identity and password. If any user go to use the site on internet then he enter their username and password, for identity, but this is not secure. To reduce these types of problems WCS works.

New Features in .NET Framework 3.5:

ASP.NET:

ASP.NET supports client-centric AJAX(Asynchoromous JavaScript and XML) development with a new client library called the Microsoft AJAX Library. The Microsoft AJAX Library supports client-centric, object-oriented development, which is browser-independent. By using the library classes in your ECMAScript (JavaScript) you can enable rich UI behaviors without roundtrips to the server.

Common Language Runtime:

Collections:

HashSet<(Of <(T>)>) provides high performance set operations to the .NET Framework. A set is a collection that contains no duplicate elements, and whose elements are in no particular order.

Diagnostics:

The EventSchemaTraceListener class provides tracing of end-to-end, schema-compliant events. You can use end-to-end tracing for a system that has heterogeneous components that cross thread, AppDomain, process, and computer boundaries.

Garbage Collection:

The GCSettings class has a new LatencyMode property that you can use to adjust the time that the garbage collector intrudes in your application. You set this property to one of the values of the new GCLatencyMode enumeration.

Better Reader/Writer Lock:

The new ReaderWriterLockSlim class provides performance that is significantly better than ReaderWriterLock, and comparable with the lock statement (SyncLock in Visual Basic). Transitions between lock states have been simplified to make programming easier and to reduce the chances of deadlocks. The new class supports recursion to simplify migration from lock and from ReaderWriterLock.

Time Zone Improvements:

Two new types, DateTimeOffset and TimeZoneInfo, improve support for time zones and make it easier to develop applications that work with dates and times in different time zones. For a discussion of which type to use in particular situations, see Choosing Between DateTime, DateTimeOffset, and TimeZoneInfo.

TimeZoneInfo:

The new TimeZoneInfo class largely supplants the existing TimeZone class. You can use TimeZoneInfo to retrieve any time zone defined in the registry, rather than just the local time zone and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

DateTimeOffset:

The new DateTimeOffset structure extends the DateTime structure to make working with times across time zones easier. The DateTimeOffset structure stores date and time information as a UTC date and time together with an offset value that indicates how much the time differs from UTC.

ClickOnce Manifests:

There are new cryptography classes for verifying and obtaining information about manifest signatures for ClickOnce applications. The ManifestSignatureInformation class obtains information about a manifest signature when you use its VerifySignature method overloads.

Collaboration Using Peer-to-Peer Networking:

The System.Net.PeerToPeer.Collaboration namespace provides a set of classes that support collaboration using the Peer-to-Peer networking infrastructure.
Socket Performance Enhancements:
The Socket class has been enhanced for use by applications that use asynchronous network I/O to achieve the highest performance. A series of new classes have been added as part of a set of enhancements to the Socket namespace. These classes provide an alternative asynchronous pattern that can be used by specialized high-performance socket applications. These enhancements were specifically designed for network server applications that require the high-performance.

WCF and WF Integration-Workflow Services:

The .NET Framework 3.5 unifies the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) frameworks so that you can use WF as a way to author WCF services or expose your existing WF workflow as a service. This enables you to create services that can be persisted, can easily transfer data in and out of a workflow, and can enforce application-level protocols.

Web Services Interoperability:

In the .NET Framework 3.5, Microsoft maintains its commitment to interoperability and public standards and introduces support for the new secure, reliable, and transacted Web services standards:

Authentication, Roles, and Settings Services:

You can enable client application services by specifying and configuring client service providers in your application configuration file or in the Visual Studio Project Designer. These providers plug into the Web extensibility model and enable you to access the Web services through existing .NET Framework login, roles, and settings APIs.

Windows Vista Support:

Existing Windows Forms applications work seamlessly on Windows Vista, and they are upgraded to have the same appearance as applications written specifically for Windows Vista whenever possible. The .NET Framework 3.5 also supports the User Account Control Shield icon.

LINQ(Language-Integrated Query):

LINQ is a new feature which was introdused in Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5. It is a very good feature for programmers. LINQ extends powerful query capabilities to the language syntax of C# and Visual Basic in the form of standard, easily-learned query patterns. The .NET Framework 3.5 includes LINQ provider assemblies that enable the use of LINQ for querying .NET Framework collections, SQL Server databases, ADO.NET Datasets, and XML documents.