.NET class library overview

.NET APIs include classes, interfaces, delegates, and value types that expedite and optimize the development process and provide access to system functionality. To facilitate interoperability between languages, most .NET types are CLS-compliant and can therefore be used from any programming language whose compiler conforms to the common language specification (CLS).

.NET types are the foundation on which .NET applications, components, and controls are built. .NET includes types that perform the following functions:

• Represent base data types and exceptions.

• Encapsulate data structures.

• Perform I/O.

• Access information about loaded types.

• Invoke .NET security checks.

• Provide data access, rich client-side GUI, and server-controlled, client-side GUI.

.NET provides a rich set of interfaces, as well as abstract and concrete (non-abstract) classes. You can use the concrete classes as-is or, in many cases, derive your own classes from them. To use the functionality of an interface, you can either create a class that implements the interface or derive a class from one of the .NET classes that implements the interface.

Naming conventions

.NET types use a dot syntax naming scheme that connotes a hierarchy. This technique groups related types into namespaces so they can be searched and referenced more easily. The first part of the full name—up to the rightmost dot—is the namespace name. The last part of the name is the type name. For example, System.Collections.Generic.List<T> represents the List<T> type, which belongs to the System.Collections.Generic namespace. The types in System.Collections.Generic can be used to work with generic collections.

This naming scheme makes it easy for library developers extending .NET to create hierarchical groups of types and name them in a consistent, informative manner. It also allows types to be unambiguously identified by their full name (that is, by their namespace and type name), which prevents type name collisions. Library developers are expected to use the following convention when creating names for their namespaces:

CompanyName.TechnologyName

For example, the namespace Microsoft.Word conforms to this guideline.

The use of naming patterns to group related types into namespaces is a useful way to build and document class libraries. However, this naming scheme has no effect on visibility, member access, inheritance, security, or binding. A namespace can be partitioned across multiple assemblies and a single assembly can contain types from multiple namespaces. The assembly provides the formal structure for versioning, deployment, security, loading, and visibility in the common language runtime.

For more information on namespaces and type names, see Common Type System.

System namespace

The System namespace is the root namespace for fundamental types in .NET. This namespace includes classes that represent the base data types used by all applications, for example, Object (the root of the inheritance hierarchy), Byte, Char, Array, Int32, and String. Many of these types correspond to the primitive data types that your programming language uses. When you write code using .NET types, you can use your language's corresponding keyword when a .NET base data type is expected.

The following table lists the base types that .NET supplies, briefly describes each type, and indicates the corresponding type in Visual Basic, C#, C++, and F#.

Category	Class name	Description	Visual Basic data type	C# data type	C++/CLI data type	F# data type
Integer	Byte	An 8-bit unsigned integer.	Byte	byte	unsigned char	byte
	SByte	An 8-bit signed integer. Not CLS-compliant.	SByte	sbyte	char or signed char	sbyte
	Int16	A 16-bit signed integer.	Short	short	short	int16
	Int32	A 32-bit signed integer.	Integer	int	int or long	int
	Int64	A 64-bit signed integer.	Long	long	__int64	int64
	UInt16	A 16-bit unsigned integer. Not CLS-compliant.	UShort	ushort	unsigned short	uint16
	UInt32	A 32-bit unsigned integer. Not CLS-compliant.	UInteger	uint	unsigned int or unsigned long	uint32
	UInt64	A 64-bit unsigned integer. Not CLS-compliant.	ULong	ulong	unsigned __int64	uint64
Floating point	Half	A half-precision (16-bit) floating-point number.
	Single	A single-precision (32-bit) floating-point number.	Single	float	float	float32 or single
	Double	A double-precision (64-bit) floating-point number.	Double	double	double	float or double
Logical	Boolean	A Boolean value (true or false).	Boolean	bool	bool	bool
Other	Char	A Unicode (16-bit) character.	Char	char	wchar_t	char
	Decimal	A decimal (128-bit) value.	Decimal	decimal	Decimal	decimal
	IntPtr	A signed integer whose size depends on the underlying platform (a 32-bit value on a 32-bit platform and a 64-bit value on a 64-bit platform).		nint		unativeint
	UIntPtr	An unsigned integer whose size depends on the underlying platform (a 32- bit value on a 32-bit platform and a 64-bit value on a 64-bit platform). Not CLS-compliant.		nuint		unativeint
	Object	The root of the object hierarchy.	Object	object	Object^	obj
	String	An immutable, fixed-length string of Unicode characters.	String	string	String^	string

In addition to the base data types, the System namespace contains over 100 classes, ranging from classes that handle exceptions to classes that deal with core runtime concepts, such as application domains and the garbage collector. The System namespace also contains many second-level namespaces.

For more information about namespaces, use the .NET API Browser to browse the .NET Class Library. The API reference documentation provides documentation on each namespace, its types, and each of their members.

See also

• Common Type System
• .NET API Browser
• Overview