Putting the .NET Question into Perspective

Instead of asking "What is .NET?" suppose for a moment that circumstances were reversed . Someone (aware of your impressive mainframe background) askedyou, "What is mainframe programming?" In an attempt to give a full answer, would you start by telling the person about the collection of programming languages available from which to choose? Perhaps you would go into detail discussing the choices of user interface technologies. As you know, your answer would be terribly incomplete if you did not explain the various data access technologies, the Job Entry Subsystem (JES), and the development environment. Obviously, there is more ”a lot more. Therein lies my point with this analogy: The world of .NET is also huge.

So, how do you get your arms around something this huge, this encompassing? Well, have you ever heard the saying "You eat an elephant one bite at a time"? To answer the question "What is .NET?" let's take that same approach. While staying at a rather high level, I've divided the topic of .NET (the "elephant") into the following "bites":

• Programming Essentials with a .NET Language

• Accessing Data the .NET Way

• Interfacing with the User Using .NET

• Understanding Advanced .NET Technologies

• Marketing and Planning for .NET

In the following sections, where appropriate, I've included Cross-Reference notes to later chapters in the book. In these cases, you'll find that specific chapters cover the .NET topics in much more depth. For now, in this chapter, I present a big-picture view while defining .NET. So, let's get started.