Framework Class Library

The Framework Class Library (FCL) is a standard library and one of two core components of Microsoft .NET Framework. The FCL is a collection of thousands of reusable classes (within hundreds of namespaces), interfaces and value types. BCL(Base Class Libraries) is a part of FCL and provide the most fundamental functionality, which includes classes in namespaces System, System.CodeDom, System.Collections, System.Diagnostics, System.Globalization, System.IO, System.Resources, System.Text, and System.Text.RegularExpressions. [ [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569603.aspx MSDN BCL Community] ]

Namespaces

; 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. [ [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.codedom.aspx MSDN Documentation - System.CodeDom Namespace] ] ; 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". [ [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.componentmodel.aspx MSDN Documentation - System.ComponentModel Namespace] ] ; 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." [ [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.enterpriseservices.aspx MSDN Documentation - System.EnterpriseServices Namespace] ] ; 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. [ [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.globalization.aspx MSDN Documentation - System.Globalization Namespace] ] ; 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." [ [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.management.aspx MSDN Documentation - System.Management Namespace] ] ; 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." [ [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.messaging.aspx MSDN Documentation - System.Messaging Namespace] ] .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", [ [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.aspx MSDN Documentation - System.Net Namespace] ] such as HTTP, FTP, and SMTP. Secure communication is supported by protocols such as SSL.; System.Linq: Defines the IQueryable interface and related methods, that lets LINQ providers to be plugged in.; System.Linq.Expressions: Allows Delegates and Lambda expressions to be represeted as expression trees, so that the high-level code can be examined and processed at runtime.; System.Reflection : Provides an object view of types, methods, and fields. You have "the ability to dynamically create and invoke types". [ [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.reflection.aspx MSDN Documentation - System.Reflection Namespace] ] It exposes the API to access the Reflective programming capabilities of CLR.; 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." [ [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.security.aspx MSDN Documentation - System.Security Namespace] ] 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". [ [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.threading.aspx MSDN Documentation - System.Threading Namespace] ] ; System.Timers : "Allows you to raise an event on a specified interval." [ [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.timers.aspx MSDN Documentation - System.Timers Namespace] ] ; 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", [ [http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.xml.aspx MSDN Documentation - System.Xml Namespace] ] including reading, writing, schemas, serialization, searching, and transforming.

See also

* Base Class Library
* ADO.NET
* ASP.NET
* Windows Forms
* Java Class Library
* Standard library

Other capabilities of the .NET framework

* Windows Presentation Foundation
* Windows Communication Foundation
* Windows Workflow Foundation
* Windows CardSpace

References

External links

* [http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/ .NET Framework Developer Center] . Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN).
* [http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/a/3/4a3c7c55-84ab-4588-84a4-f96424a7d82d/NET35_Namespaces_Poster_LORES.pdf .NET Framework 3.5 namespaces]