if We Were To desCribe The C# language and iTs assoCiaTed enVironmenT, the .NET
Framework, as the most significant technology for developers around right now, we would not be
exaggerating. .NET is designed to provide an environment within which you can develop almost any
application to run on Windows, while C# is a programming language that has been designed specifically to
work with the .NET Framework. By using C#, you can, for example, write a dynamic web page, a Windows
Presentation Foundation application, an XML Web service, a component of a distributed application, a
database access component, a classic Windows desktop application, or even a new smart client application
that allows for online/offline capabilities. This book covers the .NET Framework 4. If you are coding using
any of the prior versions, there may be sections of the book that will not work for you. We try to notify you
of items that are new and specific to the .NET Framework 4.
Don’t be fooled by the .NET label in the Framework’s name and think that this is a purely Internet-focused
framework. The NET bit in the name is there to emphasize Microsoft’s belief that distributed applications,
in which the processing is distributed between client and server, are the way forward. It is also important to
understand that C# is not just a language for writing Internet or network-aware applications. It provides a
means for you to code up almost any type of software or component that you need to write for the Windows
platform. Between them, C# and .NET have revolutionized the way that developers write their programs
and have made programming on Windows much easier than it has ever been before.
So what’s the big deal about .NET and C#?
