Touring Whidbey's Base Class Library Enhancements

he Base Class Libraries were first introduced as a core component of the .NET Framework back in January 2002. The introduction of the BCL represented a huge step forward in simplicity and consistency of API design for application development. Through provision of a standard hierarchical design known as namespaces, the BCL removed many of the downsides but did not eliminate all of the need for leveraging unmanaged or third-party APIs.

The .NET Framework 1.0/1.1 provided a BCL set that can be segmented into three functionality groups: a managed group, a managed wrappers group, and a support services group. The managed group contains classes consisting mostly of managed code implementations that replace unmanaged APIs. A perfect example of this is ADO.NET found in System.Data. The second group consists of managed wrappers around code or services still implemented as unmanaged code. An example of this can be found in the System.EnterpriseServices namespace that exposes COM+ Services to managed classes. The final functionality group provides support services to facilitate interoperability between the managed and unmanaged APIs. Many of these classes can be found in System.Runtime.InteropServices.