Base Class Library

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The Base Class Library (BCL) is a library of types and functionalities available to all languages using the .NET Framework. In order to make the programmer's job easier, .NET includes the BCL in order to encapsulate a large number of common functions, such as file reading and writing, graphic rendering, database interaction, and XML document manipulation. It is much larger in scope than standard libraries for most other languages, including C++, and would be comparable in scope to the standard libraries of Java. The BCL is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Framework Class Library (FCL), which is a superset including the Microsoft.* namespaces.

The BCL is updated with each version of the .NET Framework.

Contents

[edit] Namespaces

Some of these namespaces may or may not be officially considered part of the BCL by Microsoft, but all are included as part of the standard libraries that are provided with the .NET Framework.

System 
This namespace includes the core needs for programming. It includes base types like String, DateTime, Boolean, and so forth, support for environments such as the console, math functions, and base classes for attributes, exceptions, and arrays.
System.CodeDom 
This library provides the ability to create code and run it, at runtime.
System.Collections 
Defines many common containers or collections used in programming, such as lists, queues, stacks, hashtables, and dictionaries. It includes support for generics.
System.ComponentModel 
Provides the ability to implement the run-time and design-time behavior of components and controls. It contains the infrastructure "for implementing attributes and type converters, binding to data sources, and licensing components."[1]
System.Configuration 
Provides the infrastructure for handling configuration data.
System.Data 
This namespace represents the ADO.NET architecture, which is set of computer software components that can be used by programmers to access data and data services.
System.Deployment 
Allows you to customize the way your application upgrades when using ClickOnce.
System.Diagnostics 
Gives you the ability to diagnose your application. It includes event logging, performance counters, tracing, and interaction with system processes.
System.DirectoryServices 
Provides easy access to Active Directory from managed code.
System.Drawing 
Provides access to GDI+ graphics functionality, including support for 2D and vector graphics, imaging, printing, and text services.
System.EnterpriseServices 
"Provides .NET objects with access to COM+ services making the .NET Framework objects more practical for enterprise applications."[2]
System.Globalization 
Provides help for writing internationalized applications. "Culture-related information, including the language, the country/region, the calendars in use, [and] the format patterns for dates, currency, and numbers" can be defined.[3]
System.IO 
Allows you to read from and write to different streams, such as files or other data streams. Also provides a connection to the file system.
System.Management 
Allows you to query for information, "such as how much free space is left on the disk, what is the current CPU utilization, which database a certain application is connected to, and much more."[4]
System.Media 
Provides you the ability to play system sounds and .wav files.
System.Messaging 
Allows "you to connect to, monitor, and administer message queues on the network and send, receive, or peek messages."[5] .NET Remoting is another name for some of the functionality provided. This namespace is being superseded by Windows Communication Foundation.
System.Net 
Provides an interface "for many of the protocols used on networks today,"[6] such as HTTP, FTP, and SMTP. Secure communication is supported by protocols such as SSL.
System.Reflection 
Provides an object view of types, methods, and fields. You have "the ability to dynamically create and invoke types."[7]
System.Resources 
Allows you to manage many different resources in the application in order to internationalize an application for different cultures and languages.
System.Runtime 
Allows you to manage the runtime behavior of an application or the CLR. Some of the included abilities are interoping with COM or other native code, writing distributed applications, and serializing objects into binary or SOAP.
System.Security 
"Provides the underlying structure of the common language runtime security system."[8] This namespace allows you to build security into your application based on policy and permissions. It provides services such as cryptography.
System.ServiceProcess 
Allows you to create applications that run as a service within Windows.
System.Text 
Supports various encodings, regular expressions, and a more efficient mechanism for manipulating strings (StringBuilder).
System.Threading 
Helps facilitate multithreaded programming. It allows the synchronizing of "thread activities and access to data" and provides "a pool of system-supplied threads."[9]
System.Timers 
"Allows you to raise an event on a specified interval."[10]
System.Transactions 
Provides support for local or distributed transactions.
System.Web 
Provides various web related functionality. It enables browser-server communication and the creating XML Web Services. Most or all of these libraries are referred to as the ASP.NET architecture.
System.Windows.Forms 
This namespace contains the Windows Forms architecture which provides access to the older Windows API for writing graphical applications for Windows from within managed code. This system is being superseded by the Windows Presentation Foundation.
System.Xml 
"Provides standards-based support for processing XML,"[11] including reading, writing, schemas, serialization, searching, and transforming.

[edit] See Also

[edit] Other Capabilities of the .NET Framework

[edit] References

  1. ^ MSDN Documentation - System.ComponentModel Namespace
  2. ^ MSDN Documentation - System.EnterpriseServices Namespace
  3. ^ MSDN Documentation - System.Globalization Namespace
  4. ^ MSDN Documentation - System.Management Namespace
  5. ^ MSDN Documentation - System.Messaging Namespace
  6. ^ MSDN Documentation - System.Net Namespace
  7. ^ MSDN Documentation - System.Reflection Namespace
  8. ^ MSDN Documentation - System.Security Namespace
  9. ^ MSDN Documentation - System.Threading Namespace
  10. ^ MSDN Documentation - System.Timers Namespace
  11. ^ MSDN Documentation - System.Xml Namespace

[edit] External Links

.NET Framework (Microsoft)
v • d • e
Architecture: Common Language Infrastructure • .NET assembly • .NET metadata • Base Class Library
Common Language Infrastructure: Common Language Runtime • Common Type System • Common Intermediate Language • Virtual Execution System
Languages: C# • Visual Basic .NET • C++/CLI (Managed) • J# • JScript .NET • Windows PowerShell • IronPython • F#
Windows Foundations: Presentation • Communication • Workflow • CardSpace
Related: Windows Forms • ASP.NET • ADO.NET • .NET Remoting • XAML
Other Implementations: .NET Compact Framework • .NET Micro Framework • Shared Source CLI • Portable.NET • Mono
Comparison: C# vs. Java • C# vs. VB.NET
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