The .NET Framework is a software framework for Microsoft Windows operating systems. It includes an implementation of the Base Class Library, Common Language Runtime, and Dynamic Language Runtime. It supports many programming languages, including C#, VB.NET, F# and C++.
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Mono is frequently used to say “Yes, .NET is cross-platform”. How valid is that claim?
In What would you choose for your project between .NET and Java at this point in time? I say that I would consider the "Will you always deploy to Windows?" the single most important (EDIT: technical) ...
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12answers
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Effective Strategies for Localization in .NET
I am developing the UI for a .NET MVC application that will require international localization of all content in the near future. I am very familiar with .NET in general but have never had a project ...
64
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13answers
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My boss has a bad case of “Not Invented Here”
My department specializes in converting customer data into our database schema so that they can use our software.
Right now, we have C# applications that take an IDataReader (99% of the time it is a ...
57
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12answers
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Why is the use of abstractions (such as LINQ) so taboo?
I am an independent contractor and, as such, I interview 3-4 times a year for new gigs. I am in the midst of that cycle now and got turned down for an opportunity even though I felt like the ...
47
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8answers
20k views
How do you organize your projects? [closed]
Do you have any particular style of organizing projects?
For example, currently I'm creating a project for a couple of schools here in Bolivia, this is how I organized it:
TutoMentor (Solution)
...
42
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6answers
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As a C# developer, would you learn Java to develop for Android or use MonoDroid instead?
I'd consider myself pretty well versed in C#. It's my language of choice at the moment, and it's where basically all my professional experience lies.
Still, I'm puzzled by the existence of the ...
42
votes
5answers
4k views
C# : When to go Fluent
In many respects I really like the idea of Fluent interfaces, but with all of the modern features of C# (initializers, lambdas, named parameters) I find myself thinking, "is it worth it?", and "Is ...
41
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10answers
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What are the areas where the .NET platform is still lagging behind the Java platform? [closed]
It's almost always true that older platforms have more third party tools, libraries, projects, and support. When compared to .NET, Java has all these privileges. But time has passed since .NET first ...
38
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8answers
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Relationship between C#, .NET, ASP, ASP.NET etc
I'm really unclear on the difference between C#, C#.NET and the same for ASP and other '.NET' languages.
From what I understand, .NET is a library/framework of... things. I think they're essentially ...
33
votes
13answers
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Career advice: stay with PHP or start a new career in something else ( .Net?) [closed]
I'm planning on moving to NY in 6-12 months tops, so I'm forced to find a new job. When I'm planing to start my life in another city it's also probably a good time to think about career changes.
I've ...
30
votes
9answers
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Is Linq having a mind-numbing effect on .NET programmers?
A lot of us started seeing this phenomenon with jQuery about a year ago when people started asking how to do absolutely insane things like retrieve the query string with jQuery. The difference ...
30
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1answer
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Why does the .Net world seem to embrace magic strings instead of staticly typed alternatives?
So, I work in .Net. I make open source projects in .Net. One of my biggest problems with it isn't necessariyl with .Net, but with the community and frameworks around it. It seems everywhere that ...
27
votes
13answers
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What are the criteria for evaluating an ORM for.NET?
I'm looking at evaluating ORMs.
I've used SubSonic, Linq-to-SQL and Entity Framework. I've got a team of developers ranging from juniors to seniors.
What are the criterias for evaluating an ORM ...
27
votes
5answers
3k views
Why does F# have an interactive mode but not C#?
F# comes out of the box with an interactive REPL. C# has nothing of the sort and is in fact kinda difficult to play around without setting up a full project (though LINQpad works and its also possible ...
25
votes
6answers
622 views
Separating a “wad of stuff” utility project into individual components with “optional” dependencies
Over the years of using C#/.NET for a bunch of in-house projects, we've had one library grow organically into one huge wad of stuff. It's called "Util", and I'm sure many of you have seen one of these ...
24
votes
5answers
7k views
MonoTouch vs Objective-C for iPhone/iPod/iPad development
For someone with .Net experience and wanting to develop for iPhone/iPod/iPad, is it worth learning Objective-C? Is MonoTouch a good alternative? What are some of the trade-offs when using MonoTouch vs ...
23
votes
13answers
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Why use an OO approach instead of a giant “switch” statement?
I am working in a .Net, C# shop and I have a coworker that keeps insisting that we should use giant Switch statements in our code with lots of "Cases" rather than more object oriented approaches. His ...
23
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7answers
2k views
Why do .Net books talk about stack vs heap memory allocation?
It seems like every .net book talks about value types vs reference types and makes it a point to (often incorrectly) state where each type is stored - the heap or the stack. Usually it's in the first ...
23
votes
3answers
5k views
Best practices for logging and tracing in .NET
I've been reading a lot about tracing and logging, trying to find some golden rule for best practices in the matter, but there isn't any. People say that good programmers produce good tracing, but put ...
22
votes
17answers
4k views
Does Silverlight have a future?
Recently I have read some articles/blogs/comments about the development and history of WPF and Silverlight. In some forums many developers and users criticize the performance of WPF applications (for ...
22
votes
15answers
846 views
How do I convince my team to use smaller classes/methods?
Disclaimer: I'm a newcomer (this is my third day of work), and most of my teammates are more experienced than me.
When I look at our code, I see some code smells and bad engineering practices, like ...
22
votes
7answers
2k views
Return magic value, throw exception or return false on failure?
I sometimes end up having to write a method or property for a class library for which it is not exceptional to have no real answer, but a failure. Something cannot be determined, is not available, not ...
22
votes
2answers
3k views
Why is 'void' not allowed as a generic type in C#
What were the design decisions that argued in favour of void not being constructable and not being allowed as a generic type? After all it is just a special empty struct and would have avoided the ...
21
votes
1answer
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Is C++.Net used extensively?
I am a C++ coder by tradition. Over the last 12 months or so I have been doing a lot of C# coding, and have been pleasantly surprised by C#'s pragmatic approach (once I stopped trying to code it as ...
20
votes
4answers
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Anyone who has taken 70-515 TS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 exam?
I'm planning to take 70-515 exam and I can't find any training kit for it from MS press at the moment. Therefore, I'm reading the book for 70-562 which covers framework 3.5. I would like to know if ...
20
votes
3answers
877 views
Is .NET WCF worth the effort?
Maybe it's me, but I've never encountered nearly as many problems, annoying challenges, indirect error messages and general frustrations with any other technology as I have with WCF.
What are the ...
20
votes
1answer
1k views
Any experience with Mono on production servers?
I am curios to use .NET for some web applications (e.g. ASP.NET MVC 2). However my budget is limited so I would like to use Mono on Linux. I have never used Mono before, and I haven't read about any ...
19
votes
11answers
5k views
Recommended .NET / C# coding standards?
What coding standards do you think are important for .NET / C# projects? This could be anything from dealing with curly braces and spacing and pedantry like that. Or it could be more fundamental ...
19
votes
12answers
1k views
Managed Coders vs Native Coders
I'm a coder and have experience with both native and managed code.
I started out with Pascal and C, then moved into C++ and eventually into C#.
Over the last year or so, I've been coding almost ...
19
votes
3answers
838 views
Moving away from .Net to Ruby and coping without intellisense
I am in the process of trying to learn Ruby, however after spending nearly 10 years in the MS stack I am struggling to get by without intellisense. I've given RubyMine a try which does help however ...
18
votes
21answers
6k views
VB.Net vs C# debate [closed]
I've been in workplaces where, at the start of a project, the "Should we use VB.Net or C#" question has been raised.
Granted, it's probably less common to have to make that decision now than it was ...
18
votes
13answers
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Switch from C# to Java, which “gotchas” I should care?
I may have to switch to Java for new project. I have very little knowledge about Java, because I've mainly studied and used C#, and I'm afraid of the differences between these two language/platform ...
18
votes
7answers
643 views
How to Avoid Fragile Unit Tests?
We have written close to 3,000 tests -- data has been hard coded, very little reuse of code. This methodology has began to bite us in the ass. As the system changes we find ourselves spending more ...
18
votes
9answers
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Delegate vs Interfaces-Any more clarifications available?
After reading the article-
When to Use Delegates Instead of Interfaces (C# Programming Guide),
I need some help understanding the below given points, which I found to be not so clear (for me).
Any ...
17
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16answers
2k views
What are the most controversial C# or .NET “features” you would consider “bugs”? [closed]
What do you consider a bug in C#, or .NET framework that Microsoft will not fix, or hasn't fixed yet?
I'm hoping the answers to this question will give us better patterns to work from, and build ...
17
votes
6answers
6k views
Which platform to choose, Java or .NET?
I am working in a private bank, a leading mid size bank in local market. We are going to create our core banking solution. Existing solution has been developed on Java using IBM Visual Age 4.0.
It is ...
17
votes
5answers
2k views
Why can't Windows services have a GUI?
I was using this feature in earlier Windows release like XP and NT. I was able to run a GUI from a Windows service. But it is not possible in the later versions.
What is the reason behind the removal ...
17
votes
10answers
463 views
Is it reasonable to assume/require the .NET framework these days?
Background:
I have a project where I need to provide the user a download package with some sensitive data in it. The data needs to be encrypted. After they download it, they need to be able to view ...
17
votes
9answers
510 views
What to do as a new team lead on a project with maintainability problems?
I have just been put in charge of a code project with maintainability problems. What things can I do to get the project on a stable footing?
I find myself in a place where we are working with a very ...
17
votes
7answers
848 views
S.O.L.I.D., avoiding anemic domains, dependency injection?
Although this could be a programming language agnostic question, I'm interested in answers targeting the .NET ecosystem.
This is the scenario: suppose we need to develop a simple console application ...
16
votes
13answers
1k views
C# or .Net features to cut off assuming no backward compatibility needed? [closed]
Any product or framework evolves. Mainly it's done to catch up the needs of it's users, leverage new computing powers and simply make it better. Sometimes the primary design goal also changes with the ...
16
votes
8answers
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Is it getting harder to hire VB.NET developers?
I'm a consultant, and my last two engagements have been at VB.NET shops. It's become apparent to me that these organizations have a really hard time finding FTE developers. Have any of you observed ...
16
votes
12answers
4k views
What are the practical uses of Windows Services?
I am new to working with Windows Services. Although I have learnt to create Windows Services in VS2010 I would like to know some practical ways in which windows services could be used?
I tried ...
16
votes
7answers
838 views
Does Mono have a place in the enterprise world?
For enterprise windows-based solutions, .NET is the best choice sometimes. How is Mono looked at by the enterprises who have to use Linux (or rather prefer to use Linux) ? Assuming that the developers ...
16
votes
4answers
967 views
Is there a canonical source for learning C# and .NET internals?
I have been a C++ programmer for last several years with a bit of C# here and there. In my latest job, I work heavily on C#. I picked most of my C# by following the code-base or random google searches ...
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votes
5answers
5k views
What does Windows 8 mean for the future of .NET? [closed]
Microsoft showed off a demo of Windows 8, including a new platform that allows developers to use HTML5 and JavaScript.
Is this new platform the main way to develop for Windows 8? Is Microsoft ...
16
votes
3answers
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How can I teach my co-workers the SOLID principles?
I've got a group of very talented, yet new, developers on my team. I've fully embraced the SOLID principles in the projects I'm working on, and my fellow developers have seen the wisdom of the ways - ...
16
votes
7answers
632 views
Does making source code available affect your ability to generate revenue?
We’re working on a .Net framework which ultimately amounts to a single DLL. We intend to charge for commercial use of the framework, but make it free for open source/non-commercial use. The rough ...
16
votes
5answers
3k views
Moving from Winforms to WPF
I am a long time experienced Windows Forms developer, but now it's time to move to WPF because a new WPF project is comming soon to me and I have only a short lead time to prepare myself to learn WPF.
...
16
votes
7answers
2k views
Best practices for moving large MS Access application towards .Net?
We have a really huge MS Access application developed in-house initially for our personal needs which then was turned into a commercial software and successfully sold. The software is a sort of ...
