The .NET development framework offered by Microsoft is an adaptable platform used by software engineers to build a variety of applications, including CRM systems, inventory applications, mobile apps, and websites. These applications can help companies of all kinds achieve the next level of success by streamlining the sales process, minimizing costs, maximizing efficiencies, increasing convenience, and much more.
Because of its adaptability and other attributes, .NET is a great choice for many enterprise application projects. It’s especially useful for those intended to be used throughout the enterprise (such as an ERP application), or those that require cross-platform compatibility (such as an app for electric utility field workers to use to monitor vegetation growth near power equipment) or must be easily scalable (such as a retail subscription service expected to grow).
If these requirements are important for your company, consider hiring a development services agency with expertise in .NET development. An outside .NET development services provider like BairesDev is the perfect choice if you want to pursue any of these projects but don’t have resources in-house with the skills to do it or if you need to enhance your current team. Below we describe .NET in more depth and take a closer look at its benefits.
What Is .NET?
Microsoft’s .NET (pronounced “dot net”) framework enables engineers to create apps across a variety of operating systems and programming languages. Microsoft notes that it was designed to “provide a consistent object-oriented programming environment whether object code is stored and executed locally, executed locally but web-distributed, or executed remotely.”
The framework simplifies application development through the use of “building blocks” that can be deployed by developers for a variety of projects. This object-oriented approach offers small pieces of code that are easy to include within any application. Each code segment has been tested, resulting in a more streamlined development and increased reliability.
The use of .NET decreases software deployment and versioning problems, allows safe execution of code, removes performance issues, and enables code based on the framework to cooperate with other code. These benefits make .NET very adaptable, so it can be deployed to create a wide range of applications in both simple and complex projects.
#1 Ease of Use
.NET was designed to make writing applications easier for engineers, using the .NET standard library, optional app models, and a common infrastructure. These elements work together to simplify the process. As mentioned above, the standard library provides segments of code that can be used for standard programming tasks, so developers don’t have to rewrite the same code each time they work on similar projects.
Using this feature, engineers can also more easily fix code when they find problems. That’s because they can address just the section with the issue, without having to go through all the code to find the problem. Coding and updating with ease enable .NET developers to work quickly, resulting in reduced time to market and decreased development costs.
The .NET platform includes the Common Language Runtime (CLR), which compiles code written in any of the .NET languages into an intermediate bytecode known as the Common Intermediate Language (CIL). The CLR also controls functions such as garbage collection and threading, which are critical for optimal application performance but tedious for engineers to manage.
#2 Flexibility
The languages most commonly used with .NET are C#, F#, and Visual Basic (which is typically used to develop client-server applications). But over 20 languages can be used, including C++, Cobra, Fantom, Nemerle, Small Basic, PowerShell, and X#. Thus, engineers with a wide range of coding skills can take advantage of this platform.
.NET offers the ability to install as part of the application being developed, or separately. This “modular” concept is simple in its deployment and it’s possible to have more than one .NET Core versions running on the same machine to support different projects. .NET Core is used to develop server applications that run on multiple OSs.
The CIL code mentioned in the previous section can be used across different operating systems and platforms. Therefore, engineers can write code once for a variety of deployments, enabling a high level of flexibility in how the applications are used, and decreasing development costs. Microsoft lists the following types of apps as those that can be built with .NET:
- Cloud
- Desktop
- Game Development
- Internet of Things
- Machine Learning
- Microservices
- Mobile
- Web
#3 Security and Performance
.NET provides security benefits through its managed runtime. According to Microsoft, “A collection of services prevent critical issues like bad pointer manipulation or malicious attempts to alter compiled code. Microsoft takes security very seriously and releases updates quickly when threats are discovered.”
Additionally, the platform is very fast, so applications operate quickly, enabling company employees and customers to perform functions easily and smoothly, with minimal aggravation, which can slow employee efficiency and interfere with a frictionless customer experience (CX).
#4 Scalability
.NET is an excellent platform to use when scalability is required. This feature is important because many companies need applications that can grow as their customer bases expand. This consideration is one of the primary benefits of custom .NET development services. With a high degree of scalability, a company can pay for a bespoke application once and not have to worry about “outgrowing” it and incurring additional development costs later on.
The ability to scale without impacting the user experience (UX) is also critical for maintaining loyal customers who expect seamless and speedy browsing.
#5 Support
According to Microsoft, “The .NET Foundation is an independent organization to foster open development and collaboration around the .NET ecosystem.” This group supports the .NET community with open source projects, resources, and like-minded individuals. It boasts more than 100,000 contributions, over 3,700 companies, 556 active projects, and 59,275 resources to assist engineers.
.NET is open source, so users can join the tens of thousands of developers and thousands of companies that contribute to the platform. Participants can get quick answers to questions by engaging with the active community on Stack Overflow. These resources enable engineers to quickly resolve any issues and create highly effective applications.
If you enjoyed this, check out one of our other .NET articles.
