This print for content only-size & color not accurate 7" X 9-1/4" / casebound / malloy

Additional .NET-Aware Programming Languages

Understand that C# is not the only language that can be used to build .NET applications. When the

.NET platform was first revealed to the general public during the 2000 Microsoft Professional Devel-

opers Conference (PDC), several vendors announced they were busy building .NET-aware versions

of their respective compilers.

Since that point, dozens of different languages have undergone .NET enlightenment. In addi-

tion to the five languages that ship with the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SDK (C#, Visual Basic

.NET, J#, C++/CLI [previously termed “Managed Extensions for C++”], and JScript .NET), there

are .NET compilers for Smalltalk, COBOL, and Pascal (to name a few). Although this book focuses

(almost) exclusively on C#, be aware of the following website (please note that this URL is subject

to change):

http://www.dotnetlanguages.net

If you click the Resources link at the top of the homepage, you will find a list of numerous .NET

programming languages and related links where you are able to download various compilers (see

Figure 1-2).

While I assume you are primarily interested in building .NET programs using the syntax of C#, I

encourage you to visit this site, as you are sure to find many .NET languages worth investigating at

your leisure (LISP .NET, anyone?).

C H A P T E R   1  

■

T H E   P H I L O S O P H Y   O F   . N E T

9

8849CH01.qxd  10/1/07  10:30 AM  Page 9

---

Figure 1-2.

www.DotNetLanguages.net is one of many sites documenting known .NET programming

languages.