Getting Started with.Net: Applications and Differences

Microsoft is one of the world's largest and biggest tech companies. They’ve developed amazing products that have revolutionized and changed the way we interact with technology every day.

Not only do they develop products for end consumers and enterprise businesses, but they also know the pain of developers and strive to provide a better developer platform for them.

So which Microsoft’s developer platform are we talking about here?

It’s Dot Net Framework. Developed in 2002 by Microsoft, today it is one of the most used and go-to frameworks for developers. You can develop websites, applications, microservices, and more using this framework. It supports 60 programming languages out of which Microsoft has created 11:

• C#.NET
• VB.NET
• C++.NET
• J#.NET
• F#.NET
• JSCRIPT.NET
• WINDOWS POWERSHELL
• IRON RUBY
• IRON PYTHON
• C OMEGA
• ASML (Abstract State Machine Language)

For the development of large scale applications and websites, you might be thinking about the IDE. Then Visual Studio can be your go-to IDE because of its features like editing, interface design, server management, debugging, and performance analysis.

Going further, let's talk about the applications of Dot Net:

ASP.Net Web Applications: It’s a program useful to run inside a web server and fulfills users’ requests over HTTP. They are either simple websites built using HTML pages or advanced enterprise applications which run on local and remote networks.

Additionally, using these enterprise applications you get components for exchanging data using XML files. This includes dynamic and data-driven applications.

1. Web Services: Another name for it is "web callable." It's a software program that uses XML to exchange information with other software using common internet protocols.

In simpler terms, we can also say it as a way of interacting with objects over the internet. Web services are available via industry standards like HTTP, XML, and SOAP.

1. Windows Applications: It is a form-based standard Windows desktop application that is useful for everyday tasks. Example: Microsoft Word. They run under the Windows environment and consume services provided by the Windows Operating System.
2. Windows Services: It runs executable applications and runs on the system as a background process. These applications do not interfere with other processes that run on the same computer. Even the Windows services execute within separate Windows sessions which you create for each Windows service. These services run on the server-side and hence do not have GUIs.
3. Console Applications: It's a lightweight program and runs inside command prompts in Windows operating systems. If you want to work with console applications, then you need to call a class named "Console." It is a part of the root library called "namespace."
4. Mobile Applications: It runs on multiple mobile devices like pocket PCs, mobile phones, or PDAs. These applications provide access to data from mobile devices. To do so,.NET framework dynamically changes applications to run on multiple browsers, depending on mobile devices.

Let’s see some of the major differences between Dot NET Framework and Dot NET Core:

1. Open-source: Dot NET Framework is a licensed and proprietary software framework. But, Microsoft made some components of its open source. While on the other hand, they created.NET Core and released it as an open-source software framework. This made both enterprise and individual developers build applications using Dot NET Core without paying license fees.
2. Cross-Platform: With Dot NET Framework developers can build applications for a single platform i.e. Windows. But, with.NET Core developers can create cross-platform applications and supports three distinct operating systems i.e. Windows, OS X, and Linux. The compatibility of the.NET core makes it easy for developers to build cross-platform applications and transfer their existing applications from one platform to another.
3. Installation: Installation of the Dot NET framework uses a single package and runtime environment for Windows. But, with.NET Core, you just need the pack and you can install it independently in the operating system. The developer just needs to compile NuGet packages either directly or place them in a folder inside the application.
4. Applications: Dot NET Framework and.NET Core differ from each other in applications. Dot NET Framework is useful in creating Window Forms, ASP.Net, and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). Whereas,.NET Core is useful to create ASP.NET Core and Windows Universal Apps.

Dot NET Framework and.NET Core has a wide range of applications and is widely useful when it comes to developing applications, microservices, and much more. Since 2002 it is ruling the developer circle and will be ruling in the future as well with its open source license. Today there are many asp.net development companies as well as freelance developers which provide services to develop applications, websites, and much more.

Maulik Shah runs an IT company named BiztechCS which is headquartered in Ahmedabad, India. They offer innovative IT solutions like mobile app development, eCommerce web development, custom solutions, and more.