Hi Adam,
Thaz a good question. Many people new to .NET often get confused between the
terms "Framework" and "Runtime"?
Let me explain...
Framework: Microsoft .NET Framework is a platform for building, deploying,
and running Web Services and applications.
The .NET Framework consists of three main parts:
1. The common language runtime (CLR)
2. Base class libraries and
3. A componentized version of Active Server Pages called ASP.NET.
So thatz it for Framework.
Runtime : Runtime is nothing but the CLR (which is a part of Framework). The
CLR is a set of standard resources that any .NET program can take advantage
of, regardless of programming language. Some of its features are
• Object-oriented programming model (inheritance, polymorphism, exception
handling, garbage collection)
• Security model
• Type system
• All .NET base classes
• Many .NET framework classes
• Development, debugging, and profiling tools
• Execution and code management
and others..
So basically the CLR is a subset of Framework.
Hope this helps.
Need any help, do post a msg back.
Happy Coding