REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 13, 2001 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that ECMA, an international standards body, has ratified specifications for C# (pronounced C-sharp) and the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI). The ratification marks a milestone in the industrys standardization efforts around XML Web services as well as programming language innovation.
C# and CLI standards are key parts of the standards-based, multilanguage Microsoft® .NET Platform, created by Microsoft to enable software developers to quickly build and deploy powerful, interoperable XML Web services. C#, which is derived from C and C++, provides the worlds first component-oriented language for C and C++ developers. The CLI, a subset of the Microsoft .NET Framework, includes base-class libraries and components needed to enable other software vendors to build, deploy and run XML Web services.
Microsoft submitted the specifications for C# and CLI to ECMA in October 2000, and has collaborated with a dozen industry leaders, including Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Intel Corp. and Netscape Communications Corp., in C# and CLI technical working groups to complete final specifications.
The specifications are available on ECMAs Web site at http://www.ecma.ch/ , as well as on the MSDN® Web site at http://msdn.microsoft.com/net/ .
About the .NET Framework
The Microsoft .NET Framework is a platform for building, deploying and running XML Web services and applications. It provides a highly productive, standards-based, multilanguage environment for integrating existing investments with next-generation applications and services as well as the agility to solve the challenges of deployment and operation of Internet-scale applications. The .NET Framework consists of two main parts: the common language runtime and a hierarchical set of unified class libraries that includes a next-generation Web application environment, ASP.NET; a loosely coupled data access subsystem, ADO.NET; and an environment for building rich Windows® -based applications, Windows Forms.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
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