.NET Framework
 | |
| Initial release | February 11, 2002 |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 4.8.1
/ August 9, 2022 |
| Operating system | Windows 98 or later, Windows NT 4.0 or later |
| Platform | |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | dotnet |
The .NET Framework is proprietary software framework developed by Microsoft that primarily runs on Microsoft Windows. The framework is implemented on top of the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) which acts as the base for implementing interoperability between multiple programming languages. Languages within the .NET framework are compiled in to Common Intermediate Language code (CIL) instead of machine code. The Common Language Runtime (CLR) is provides a wide range of services such as memory management, type safety exception handling and garbage collection. Finally, the Just-in-Time Compiler (JIT) during execution of a .NET application converts the CIL instructions into machine code specific to the computer's architecture.