The [.NET Framework](https://www.microsoft.com/net/framework) is a general purpose development platform maintained by Microsoft. It is the most popular way to build client and server applications for Windows and Windows Server. It is included with Windows, Windows Server and Windows Server Core. It includes server technologies such as ASP.NET Web Forms, ASP.NET MVC and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) applications, which you can run in Docker containers.

.NET has several capabilities that make development easier, including automatic memory management, (runtime) generic types, reflection, asynchrony, concurrency, and native interop. Millions of developers take advantage of these capabilities to efficiently build high-quality web and client applications.

You can use C#, F# and VB to write .NET Framework apps. C# is simple, powerful, type-safe, and object-oriented while retaining the expressiveness and elegance of C-style languages. F# is a multi-paradigm programming language, enabling both functional and object-oriented patterns and practices. VB is a rapid development programming language with the deepest integration between the language and Visual Studio, providing the fastest path to a working app.

The .NET Framework was first released by Microsoft in 2001. The latest version is [.NET Framework 4.8](https://www.microsoft.com/net/framework).

> [.NET Framework Documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/dotnet/framework/)
