Microsoft Releases .Net Framework 4 for Windows

Microsoft has released .NET Framework 4 for software development.  The .NET Framework is Microsoft's comprehensive and consistent programming model for building applications that have visually stunning user experiences, seamless and secure communication, and the ability to model a range of business processes.

The .NET Framework 4 works side by side with older Framework versions. Applications that are based on earlier versions of the Framework will continue to run on the version targeted by default.

The .NET Framework 4 provides the following new features and improvements:

Improvements in Common Language Runtime (CLR) and Base Class Library (BCL)

• Performance improvement including better multicore support, background garbage collection, and profiler attach on server.

• New memory mapped file and numeric types.

• Easier debugging including dump debugging, Watson minidumps, mixed mode debugging for 64 bit and code contracts.

Innovations in the Visual Basic and C# languages, for example statement lambdas, implicit line continuations, dynamic dispatch, and named/optional parameters.

Improvements in Data Access and Modeling:

• The Entity Framework enables developers to program against relational databases using .NET objects and Language Integrated Query (LINQ). It has many new features, including persistence ignorance and POCO support, foreign key associations, lazy loading, test-driven development support, functions in the model, and new LINQ operators. Additional features include better n-tier support with self-tracking entities, customizable code generation using T4 templates, model first development, an improved designer experience, better performance, and pluralization of entity sets.

• WCF Data Services is a component of the .NET Framework that enables you to create REST-based services and applications that use the Open Data Protocol (OData) to expose and consume data over the Web. WCF Data Services has many new features, including enhanced BLOB support, data binding, row count, feed customization, projections, and request pipeline improvements. Built-in integration with Microsoft Office 2010 now makes it possible to expose Microsoft Office SharePoint Server data as an OData feed and access that data feed by using the WCF Data Services client library.

Enhancements to ASP.NET:

• More control over HTML, element IDs and custom CSS that make it much easier to create standards-compliant and SEO-friendly web forms.

• New dynamic data features including new query filters, entity templates, richer support for Entity Framework 4, and validation and templating features that can be easily applied to existing web forms.

• Web forms support for new AJAX library improvements including built-in support for content delivery networks (CDNs).

Improvements in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)

• Added support for Windows 7 multi-touch, ribbon controls, and taskbar extensibility features.

• Added support for Surface 2.0 SDK.

• New line-of-business controls including charting control, smart edit, data grid, and others that improve the experience for developers who build data centric applications.

• Improvements in performance and scalability.

• Visual improvements in text clarity, layout pixel snapping, localization, and interoperability.

Improvements to Windows Workflow (WF) that enable developers to better host and interact with workflows. These include an improved activity programming model, an improved designer experience, a new flowchart modeling style, an expanded activity palette, workflow-rules integration, and new message correlation features. The .NET Framework 4 also offers significant performance gains for WF-based workflows.

Improvements to Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) such as support for WCF Workflow Services enabling workflow programs with messaging activities, correlation support. Additionally, .NET Framework 4 provides new WCF features such as service discovery, routing service, REST support, diagnostics, and performance.

Innovative new parallel-programming features such as parallel loop support, Task Parallel Library (TPL), Parallel LINQ (PLINQ), and coordination data structures which let developers harness the power of multi-core processors.  

Download --> .Net Framework 4 Full Setup (869 KB)

Download --> .Net Framework 4 Full x86 & x64 (48.1 MB)

Download --> .Net Framework 4 Readme

Also Released: Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile

The Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile provides a subset of features from the .NET Framework 4. The Client Profile is designed to run client applications and to enable the fastest possible deployment for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows Forms technology. Application developers who require features that are not included in the Client Profile should target the full .NET Framework 4 instead of the Client Profile.

Download --> .Net Framework 4 Client Profile Setup (868 KB)

Download --> .Net Framework 4 Client Profile x86 & x64 (41.0 MB)

Microsoft Small Basic 0.8

Microsoft Small Basic is a project that is aimed at making computer programming accessible to beginners. The project comprises a simple programming language that gathers inspiration from the original BASIC programming language; a modern and attractive programming environment; and rich, extensible libraries. Together they make programming fun for kids and adults alike.

Download details Small Basic

Benefits of .NET Framework

• The .Net Framework, provides the necessary compile-time and run-time platform to build and run .Net based applications.
• The .Net platform is designed with ease of use and code re-use in mind, and features many programming languages that can interact with each other.
• Common Language Specification means that data types in all .Net applications are the same, so no type conversion is required when calling C# or C++ .Net methods from Visual Basic, or vice-versa.
• Base Class Library provides hundreds of predefined classes that can be used.
• Code developed for the .Net framework is portable between desktop, server and handheld architecture.
• Memory leaks are significantly reduced as the .Net Common Language Runtime provides a managed environment where memory is maintained by the Garbage Collector. The CLR also manages security, deployment and execution.
• Improved security between remote services
• Inbuilt XML readers/writers/parsers and also has the ability to serialise structures to XML format.
• C# is a language specifically designed for the .Net platform, unlike Visual Basic and C++ which have been adapted to accommodate the framework.

 

The framework does have its disadvantages however. Because all code is "compiled" into MSIL code, regardless of the language it was coded in, the MSIL code needs to be further compiled into the native code for the platform it is running on. When an application is compiled to MSIL code it is more accurate to say that it is being translated because MSIL is a programming language similar to assembler. This MSIL code can be dissembled by tools such as ildasm and .Net Reflector to reveal the original source code (minus a few non-important items such as white space, comments and so on).

 

As long as you don't mind source code being distributed .Net is fine. ASP.Net and web services are not affected by this since the executable is not directly accessible, however if you create a web application to distribute or sell, the code can be seen by anyone with access to the executable and a decompiler. There are tools available to help combat this and we will discuss the decompilation issue in a later tutorial when we look at security.

Microsoft donates .NET Micro Framework to open source

Microsoft has released part of its .NET Framework - the part for internet-connected smart devices - into the open-source community.

The company said on Monday that it's releasing source code for the .NET Micro Framework under an Apache 2.0 license. Microsoft is also creating a community of "interested and involved members to help shape the future direction of the product." The community's web site was still under construction at time of the announcement.

Happier times: Bill Gates and friends wearing

an early version of the .NET Micro Framework

But don't get too excited. You won't be getting the full .NET Micro Framework stack, as Microsoft's open-source code donation will lack the TCP/IP stack and cryptography libraries. Microsoft said the former has been licensed by a third party, so Microsoft can't release the code, while the latter Microsoft has decided is "used outside of the scope of the .NET Micro Framework." You'll have to use your own alternatives.

Microsoft's embrace of open source follows the company's announcement in May that it was, ahem, changing the .NET Micro Framework's business model after it announced it was cutting 3,000 staff. The company said that it would kill off royalties from distribution of Framework and that the platform would become a community-supported project.

Program Manager Colin Miller vowed Monday on Microsoft's Port 25 blog that Microsoft will remain actively involved in NET Micro Framework's ongoing development, working alongside the community.

The .NET Micro Framework never lived up to the early promise. It morphed out of the Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) unveiled by Bill Gates during his keynote address at the January, 2003 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The idea was for internet-connected watches and coffee makers capable of updating you on the weather and your stock while while giving you the time or brewing up a cup of instant. After from some initial interest, though, the watches and coffee makers never really clicked.

In an earlier blow to SPOT and the .NET Micro Framework, Microsoft announced last month that the data-network-powering SPOT-based services known as MSN Direct will finally be switched off in 2012. ®