Acronyms in .NET

ADO - ActiveX Data Object - Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) is a collection of Component Object Model objects for accessing different types of data sources.

AJAX - Asynchronouse Javascript and XML - Ajax is a web development technology used for creating interactive web pages with fast data rendering by enabling partial postbacks on a web page (That means a section of the web page is rendered again, instead of the complete web page. This is achieved using Javascript, XML, JSON (Javascript Notation Language) and the XMLHttpRequest object in javascript.

ASP - Active Server Pages - Microsoft's Server side script engine for creating dynamic web page.

C# - C Sharp - Microsoft Visual C# is an object oriented programming language based on the .NET Framework. It includes features of powerful languages like C++, Java, Delphi and Visual Basic.

CAO - Client Activated Object - Objects created on the server upon the client's request. This is used in Remoting.

CCW - COM Callable Wrapper - This component is used when a .NET component needs to be used in COM.

CIL - Common Intermediate Language - Its actually a low level human readable language implementation of CLI. All .NET-aware languages compile the source oode to an intermediate language called Common Intermediate Language using the language specific compiler.

CLI - Common Language Infrastructure - This is a subset of CLR and base class libraries that Microsoft has submitted to ECMA so that a third-party vendor can build a .NET runtime on another platform.

CLR - Common Language Runtime - It is the main runtime machine of the Microsoft .NET Framework. It includes the implementation of CLI. The CLR runs code in the form of bytes, called as bytecode and this is termed MSIL in .NET.

CLS - Common Language Specification - A type that is CLS compliant, may be used across any .NET language. CLS is a set of language rules that defines language standards for a .NET language and types declared in it. While declaring a new type, if we make use of the [CLSCompliant] attribute, the type is forced to conform to the rules of CLS.

COFF - Common Object File Format - It is a specification format for executables.

COM - Component Object Model - reusable software components. The tribe of COM components includes COM+, Distributed COM (DCOM) and ActiveX® Controls.

CSC.exe - C Sharp Compiler utility

CTS - Common Type System - It is at the core of .NET Framework's cross-language integration, type safety, and high-performance code execution. It defines a common set of types that can be used with many different language syntaxes. Each language (C#, VB.NET, Managed C++, and so on) is free to define any syntax it wishes, but if that language is built on the CLR, it will use at least some of the types defined by the CTS.

DBMS - Database Management System - a software application used for management of databases.

DISCO - Discovery of Web Services. A Web Service has one or more. DISCO files that contain information on how to access its WSDL.

DLL - Dynamic Link Library - a shared reusable library, that exposes an interface of usable methods within it.

DOM - Document Object Model - is a language independent technology that permits scripts to dynamically updated contents of a document (a web page is also a document).

ECMA - European Computer Manufacturer's Association - Is an internation organisation for computer standards.

GC - Garbage Collector - an automatic memory management system through which objects that are not referenced are cleared up from the memory.

GDI - Graphical Device Interface - is a component in Windows based systems, that performs the activity of representing graphical objects and outputting them to output devices.

GAC - Global Assembly Cache - Is a central repository of reusable libraries in the .NET environment.

GUI - Graphic User Interface - a type of computer interface through which user's may interact with the Computer using different types of input & output devices with a graphical interface.

GUID - Globally Unique Identifier - is a unique reference number used in applications to refer an object.

HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol - is a communication protocol used to transfer information in the internet. HTTP is a request-response protocol between servers and clients.

IDE - Integrated Development Environment - is a development environment with source code editor with a compiler(or interpretor), debugging tools, designer, solution explorer, property window, object explorer etc.

IDL - Interface Definition Language - is a language for defining software components interface.

ILDASM - Intermediate Language Disassembler - The contents of an assembly may be viewed using the ILDASM utility, that comes with the .NET SDK or the Visual Studio.NET. The ildasm.exe tool may also be used in the command line compiler.

IIS - Internet Information Server - Is a server that provides services to websites and even hosts websites.

IL - Intermediate Language - is the compiled form of the .NET language source code. When .NET source code is compiled by the language specific compiler (say we compile C# code using csc.exe), it is compiled to a .NET binary, which is platform independent, and is called Intermediate Language code. The .NET binary also comprises of metadata.

JIT - Just in Time (Jitter) - is a technology for boosting the runtime performance of a system. It converts during runtime, code from one format into another, just like IL into native machine code. Note that JIT compilation is processor specific. Say a processor is X86 based, then the JIT compilation will be for this type of processor.

MBR - MarshallByReference - The caller recieves a proxy to the remote object.

MBV