Base Class Library

for RuBoard

Just as languages such as C and VB have standard libraries, the .NET Framework has a standard library. It is often referred to as the base class library, or BCL. While it is possible to write a .NET program without ever using the BCL, it is unlikely that anyone would want to do this.

The BCL divides functionality into different namespaces. The root namespace of the BCL is named System . Related functionality is often grouped together in its own namespace below this, such as System.IO for stream-based I/O. Microsoft-specific functionality is located under the Microsoft root namespace ( Microsoft.Win32.Registry , for example). To use BCL classes from the System.IO namespace, the following line would be required in a C# application:

 using System.IO; 

Some commonly used namespaces in the BCL are listed in Table 2.1. See the .NET Framework SDK for detailed information on each of these namespaces and associated classes.

Table 2.1. Commonly Used Namespaces in the BCL

Namespace	Description
System	Primary data types, fundamental classes, and basic services
System.Collections	Frequently used data types such as lists, queues, and hash tables
System.Configuration	Classes to read .NET application configuration files
System.Data	Classes to access different types of data sources, such as SQL servers
System.Drawing	2-D graphics APIs and access to GDI+
System.IO	Classes for reading and writing to different types of data streams, such as file streams
System.NET	Classes for using common network protocols
System.Reflection	Classes for reading type information, creating types, and invoking methods using metadata
System.Runtime.Remoting	Classes for creating distributed applications
System.Runtime.Serialization	Serialization and deserialization classes using binary or SOAP encoding
System.Security	Classes for using code access security
System.Security.Cryptography	Classes for using cryptographic services such as encryption and hashing
System.Web	Web server and client management classes
System.Windows.Forms	Classes for writing GUI-based client applications
System.Xml	XML processing using XML standards such as XML 1.0, XPath, XSLT, and DOM levels

for RuBoard