Microsoft .NET Framework vs Zend PHP Engine comparison

Microsoft .NET Framework is a software development framework for building and running applications for Windows, Windows Phone, Windows servers, XML Web services, and Microsoft Azure. The software is made up of two major components: Common Language Runtime (CLR) and the .NET Framework Class Library. The CLR is the execution engine that handles running apps and the Class Library is a library of tested, reusable code that developers can call from their own apps.

Microsoft .NET Framework Features

Microsoft .NET Framework has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

• Memory management: With Microsoft .NET Framework apps, the CLR allocates and releases memory and handles object lifetimes in many programming languages, so programmers are not responsible to do it.

• Multitargeting: Microsoft .NET Framework targets .NET Standard, allowing developers to create class libraries that work on multiple Microsoft .NET Framework platforms.

• A common type system: When using Microsoft .NET Framework, basic types are defined by the .NET Framework type system and are common to all languages that target Microsoft .NET Framework as opposed to traditional programming languages where basic types are defined by the compiler.

• Side-by-side execution: By allowing multiple versions of the common language runtime to exist on the same computer, Microsoft .NET Framework helps resolve version conflicts. In addition, an app can run on the version of Microsoft .NET Framework with which it was built and multiple versions of apps can coexist.

• Development frameworks and technologies: Microsoft .NET Framework provides libraries for specific areas of app development, such as ASP.NET for web apps, ADO.NET for data access, Windows Communication Foundation for service-oriented apps, and Windows Presentation Foundation for Windows desktop apps.

Microsoft .NET Framework Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Microsoft .NET Framework. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

• Language interoperability: With this Microsoft .NET Framework feature, routines written in one language are accessible to other languages, enabling programmers to focus on creating apps in their preferred languages.

• Version compatibility: Microsoft .NET Framework offers version compatibility for rare occasions when apps that are developed by using a particular version of Microsoft .NET Framework happen to run without modification on a later version.

• Extensive class library: With Microsoft .NET Framework, programmers have the ability to use a readily accessible Microsoft .NET Framework class library instead of having to write vast amounts of code to handle common low-level programming operations.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the Microsoft .NET Framework solution.

PeerSpot user, Syed A., Principal System Developer at a government, says the solution is a “Great all in one framework with extensive stack for web applications, windows applications and mobile applications.”

A QA Supervisor at a manufacturing company mentions, “It comes with many features that you can interact with and has all of the libraries readily available, which is not available in the RPA platforms. You can create your own SSIS package. You can integrate with all of the Windows objects, which is not available in Automation Anywhere, and you need to rely on their Object Cloning technologies to interact with them.”

Brennan G., IS Technical Architect at Avara Foods Holdings Limited, comments, “It is easy to use, and it runs on a Windows platform. The .NET Framework is a very good framework. It does what I need it to do.”

Zend Engine is a highly optimized execution engine. It allows modules such as debuggers, performance boosters and custom loaders to dynamically extend PHP for a broader range of functionality. Whenever you're using any plug-in module today, you're doing so thanks to the extensibility support of the Zend Engine. In addition, the Zend Engine provides memory and resource management, and other standard services for the PHP language.