Professional Windows 7 Development Guide

Chapter 3. Understanding .NET 4.0

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Defining the reasons you want to use the .NET Framework 4.0

• Getting your own copy of the .NET Framework 4.0

• Installing the .NET Framework 4.0

• Understanding how the .NET Framework 4.0 extends Windows 7

All managed applications depend on some form of the .NET Framework. Early versions of the .NET Framework were quite limited, but as the library has matured, Microsoft has added more functionality to it until today you can create extremely complex applications using managed code. In addition, more languages than ever before rely on the .NET Framework for support. You can even combine multiple languages such as C# and F# in the same application. (For details about F#, see the article at http://www.devsource.com/c/a/Languages/Exploring-the-New-F-Language/.)

Microsoft naturally wants you to use the .NET Framework 4.0 for all your development efforts, so you'll find that it has provided the usual resources. The main .NET Framework 4.0 resource page is at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/w0x726c2.aspx. This chapter also will provide you with a good overview of the .NET Framework 4.0, although it doesn't describe every feature. The emphasis of this chapter is on the features that you'll use when creating new Windows 7 applications and updating existing applications. With this in mind, the chapter begins with an overview of why you need the .NET Framework 4.0 on your system (assuming you don't already have it installed). The chapter also ...