Understanding .NET (2nd Edition)

4. Surveying the .NET Framework Class Library

All software built on the .NET Framework uses the Common Language Runtime (CLR). Yet even the simplest CLR-based program also requires using some part of the .NET Framework class library, and more capable software will use a much larger set of the services this library provides. Understanding .NET requires having a clear idea of what the .NET Framework class library offers to software developers. This chapter provides a survey of this very large library, then takes a closer look at some of its more fundamental parts.