What is the .NET Framework?

.NET Framework is the large set of libraries that have provided access to the Microsoft platform for the last 15 years or so. Basically, all libraries that are available to you right out of the box when programming on most C# environments.

There are a few subsets of the framework depending on the client/server/version, and some dialects like Mono. But that is part of the complexity you don't need at this time when you are trying to learn.

Forget about ISO and ECMA for now; .NET Framework the organizations that approve standards, which are basically specs that allow proprietary technology to be shared and implemented similarly enough by other organizations. Nothing to see there.

The .NET Framework from Microsoft encompasses the languages C#, VB.NET, and F#.

The languages are used to create "fat-clients" (which are deployable executable files), Web Services (WCF, WebAPI), and Web Applications (WebForms, ASP.NET MVC).

I also wrote a post with a small terminology section discussing the differences between ASP.NET WebForms and ASP.NET MVC.

Here is the terminology section:

• .NET Framework - A technology introduced in 2002 which includes the ability to create executables, web applications, and services using C# (pronounced see-sharp), Visual Basic, and F# (Wikipedia)
• ASP.NET - An open-source, server-side web application framework which is a subset of the .NET Framework that focuses specifically on building a web application, web sites, and web services.
• ASP.NET Web Forms - (2002 - current) A proprietary technique developed by Microsoft to manage state and form data across multiple pages. The innate ability of the web is state-less pages where Microsoft created stateful pages by creating the Web Forms technique.
• ASP.NET MVC - (2008 - current) An open-source web application framework that implements a Model-View-Controller design pattern.

Hope this helped.

Thanks, guys :)