What are the features of the .NET platform, and what does a .net software development company do? What can the team offer you?
What is .NET
.NET is Microsoft’s platform for creating software applications. The first release of the .NET Framework was released in 2002. It is believed that the NET Framework is designed to work with Microsoft Windows operating systems, but there are plugins and platforms to work on the principle of cross-platform.
In general, the creation was to get an alternative platform to the existing Sun Java. Many software products, libraries, and environments are written and developed within the .NET Framework.
In 2016, to expand the capabilities of the .NET Framework was launched modular platform .NET Core; its difference is that it was compatible with virtually all existing operating systems. .NET Core has given a bunch of new features and scenarios to use this framework.
What does a .NET software development company do?
Different languages and platforms are designed for specific application and product development tasks. .NET also has its own specifics. However, the range of products that .NET developers work on is very wide. Just look at this list: it lists companies that use .NET in a wide variety of industries – from financial and trade to scientific and social.Software products that are made under .NET are grouped:
- Web Development. This is probably the most common set of applications written for .NET. The peculiarity of web applications is that they run through a browser and usually require a stable internet connection. Web applications vary in complexity. It’s easy to outline a small one-page website with images and links. However, building complex web applications requires more effort. The Stack Overflow site, familiar to every developer, is a prime example of a simple-looking yet complex server application. To write such a program, you need to know C#, as well as to know such a framework as ASP.NET MVC. You also need to understand what a client/server is and how HTTP, REST, and JavaScript differentiate the front end from the back end.
- Client Applications. .NET is not only used to build web applications but also client applications—products that run on end users’ PCs and mobile devices. Some components of the Windows operating system were developed using .NET, including Notepad and Calculator. But there are also tons of .NET applications created by individual developers: you can see some of them on this resource. More complex products were also manufactured. For example, traders – NinjaTrader, Tradesignal.
For business analysts, there is also an interesting application – Microsoft Power BI, which can visualize information from any source and simplify and speed up work with big data. Basically, desktop client applications use WPF or Windows Forms technologies – if you know them, you can create complex applications for the user’s desktop.
With .NET Core and Xamarin.Forms you can also create an app for phones. The client application is created, published on any available platform or store, and is available to anyone who has a phone or any other device with a similar architecture.
- Game Development. Thanks to the .NET platform, you can create games on the Unity engine. Based on the .NET platform, Mono. Games such as Inside, Kerbal Space Program, Endless Legend, Pokemon Go use this engine. Again, minimal C# technology and Mono and Unity libraries. There is no need to learn C++. Mono and Unity compile code in C#. You can start learning this direction from the article “Unity: Developing Your First Game with Unity and C#”.
- IoT. The Internet of Things is the direction of technology development for “things” that can communicate with each other, with the outside environment, and with the Internet. You can apply .NET here, too, for example, if you use a Raspberry PI with Windows 10 IoT Core and want to control smart kettles, home lighting systems, unmanned cars, speech recognition systems, and automated dialogs based on off-the-shelf frameworks. If you plan to develop in this direction, start by reading about Azure IoT, Azure IoT Hub, and how two-way communication with the server (hub) and your smart devices is provided; you also need to understand the architecture of the boards of appliances and the logic of interaction of sensors and processors and controllers in devices.
- Enterprise. Enterprise is an area in which products are developed to solve business problems rather than for end users. Such products include CRM systems for tracking customer behavior and information or document management systems. Enterprise systems are a combination of web development, desktop, and mobile applications. Despite some versatility, they are designed to solve many problems. For example, if a customer wants to organize a complex business process, a possible solution is the MS SharePoint / SharePoint Online platform. When creating a global e-commerce platform for a large trading company, the Sitecore platform may be a good choice. If you want to develop for a company, you need to know not only C#, .NET, and JavaScript but also the tools behind the product of the company you are developing for. For example, for a SharePoint-based product, you need to know the components of SharePoint: workflows, web parts, timer jobs, custom fields, content types, and functions.
.NET is a platform that reflects the latest trends in development and offers developers and their customers a lot of opportunities to solve modern problems and issues to achieve the desired goals in the most efficient way
We understand the directions of software products and the directions of a .NET software development company. This will help you understand what your business needs. The digiteum team will help you choose the technology stack, architecture, and design and which development cycle is the best fit after talking to the manager and development team. The goal is to find the best options to achieve your goals and create a quality and competitively sustainable product or application.
