The Microsoft framework, consisting of the development environment and execution module. Programs written in Visual C++, Visual Basic, Visual F#, and other supported languages are translated into a single bytecode. The latter is interpreted by the Common Language Runtime environment, which either runs the compiled file within its own virtual machine, or passes it to the NGen tool.
Such architecture allows universal applications to be developed for any devices on which the framework is installed.
A key feature of .NET is that it allows libraries written in different languages to be used within the framework of one program.
The platform is geared towards the Windows environment and is included in the distribution of this operating system.