Microsoft released the latest version, .Net 2.0 Framework on October 27, 2005. It is not only a redesign of the technology but also a model of Microsoft’s .NET agenda. The earlier .NET version was based on a Rapid Application Development model. The primary goal for developing .NET 2.0 Framework was to allow developers to write 70% less code as compared to what was required using .NET v1.x. .NET 2.0 Development Environment: Visual Studio 2005 is an integrated development environment for .NET 2.0. Similar to Visual Studio 2005, an open source integrated development environment also exists, known as SharpDevelop. Some of its features provide better enhancement capabilities as compared to Visual Studio 2005. .NET v1.x was mainly considered a Rapid Application Development system; whereas the new.NET 2.0 version acts as a base for the new generation Microsoft platform: WinFX. Enterprise Infrastructure: .NET provides a platform-independent structure for software development, with numerous built-in features including Internet integration and security enhancement features. It completely depends on software components and the component based programming models. Your browser may not support display of this image. The .Net Framework The two principal components of .NET are the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) and the Common Language Runtime (CLR). The CLI is a set of terms for a runtime environment, which includes a common type system, Common Intermediate Language (CIL) code, which is machine independent and a base class library. The CLR offers a platform for managing code that conforms to the CLI. The CLR translates the CIL into a local machine code before its execution. CIL is self-describing through .NET metadata. The metadata is checked by CLR to make sure that the correct method is being deployed. Developers are enabled to generate metadata; though it is also generated by the language compilers in some cases. If a language implementation generates CIL, it can be hosted using the CLR and can then interact with data produced by any other .NET language. .Net Remoting & XML WebServices: The .NET remoting infrastructure is a conceptual approach towards internal communication process. Microsoft .NET remoting offers a rich and extensible framework for objects residing in other application domains, in different processes, and in different machines for seamless communication amongst one another. .NET remoting offers a robust and a simple programming model and runtime support for providing a transparency to these interactions. XML Web service is the elementary structure required for the process of distributed computing on the Internet. Open standards and focused attention on communication and association between people and applications have created an environment where XML Web services are being deployed as the platform for integrating applications. Multiple synchronized XML Web services from diverse sources are deployed to develop applications. .NET Languages: The CLI has been designed in a way that it supports any object-oriented programming language by sharing a common object model and a large common class library. .NET 2.0 supports more than 40 programming languages. Some of the languages built-in the .Net Framework are: • C# 2.0 • JScript .NET • J# • Managed C++ • Visual Basic .NET .NET 2.0 Framework also supports a few third party languages, such as: • A#. • APL • Boo • COBOL • Component Pascal • Delphi 8 and Delphi 2005 • Eiffel • F# • Forth • FORTRAN • IKVM, Java • IronPython, Python • Lexico • Lisp • Mercury • Mondrian • Nemerle • Oberon • PHP