Putting people first for a change
InfoWorld | at | by Mike
The truth is, nobody knows when, how, or even if we will get from here to there. XML and .Net are really just code words for sets of best practices that will, we hope, create an environment in which the vision can be made real. It's useful to unpack these terms and list what those best practices are.
First, consider the engine at the core of .Net: the CLR (Common Language Runtime). Already deployed on servers, and coming soon to a desktop near you, CLR unifies the two great themes of modern software: objects and components. The ideas embodied in the CLR are so unstoppable that Microsoft's open-source competitors are rushing to embrace them.
The chassis of the vehicle powered by this engine is the .Net Framework. Its design goal, first stated by Microsoft architect Dave Stutz, was to capture a wide variety of best programming practices. A work in progress, the framework also wraps consistency around a welter of legacy APIs, first by consolidating interfaces to the servers (see "Road to managed code," Aug. 5, page 24), then by doing the same for the client.