Introduction to the Base Class Library

The Base Class Library (BCL), provides a ton of code that you as a developer can leverage to build your applications. The BCL is extensive in terms of the number of classes it provides, and an exhaustive coverage of all that it offers would require a tome all to itself. It is interesting to note that the BCL was developed almost entirely in C#. Table 2.2 provides a basic listing of the FCL namespaces and a partial listing of what can be found under that namespace.

Table 2.2. An FCL Overview

Namespace	Key Classes
System	Basic types (int, char, string) Console class for console I/O Standard exceptions
System.Diagnostics	Debugging class Trace listeners Performance counters
System.Drawing	Image support Graphics support for both 2D/3D
System.IO	File I/O Streams
System.Reflection	Metadata classes; used for dynamic discovery of methods, properties, and fields
System.Text	Text manipulation classes StringBuilder
System.Text.RegularExpression	Support for full regular expression
System.Web	Base web core classes HttpHandlers
System.Web.UI	Core web UI classes
System.Web.UI.HtmlControls	Standard HTML control classes
System.Web.UI.WebControls	.NET versions of standard HTML controls, such as button, radio button, table, and so on
System.Windows.Forms	Windows development UI controls

Table 2.2 does not give a complete namespace listing, but instead lists some of the most commonly used namespaces.