What is .NET Framework?

.NET Framework is a software framework that provides a base for building applications and services using languages, compilers, libraries, objects, and other services. The .NET Framework includes a common language runtime (CLR) that provides memory management, security support, exception handling, and thread management. The .NET Framework Class Library and the .NET Compilers.

What are some of the benefits that you can get from using .NET Framework?

The .NET Framework enables developers to build applications that use object-oriented programming techniques (by eliminating the need to write many lines of code) and that run on multiple operating systems.

How is it different from Java?

Java is a programming language that uses an interpreter to convert Java source code into executable bytecode that can run on any system with a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The JVM runs on top of an operating system such as Windows or Linux. With Java, you can write your application once and then deploy it on any platform with a JVM installed. Unlike Java, however, the CLR doesn't require you to compile your application before running it; rather, it runs your program directly from source code without requiring an intermediate step where instructions are converted into another format first.