Microsoft. NET initiative

Over years and months, the way we use computers is changing. Today, everyone sees the value of the Internet, and the way we use computers is increasingly dependent on the services provided by the network. In my opinion, I like to buy things over the Internet, get transportation information, compare products, buy tickets, and read product reviews.

However, I found that there are still many things I want to do on the Internet today. For exampleCommunityFind a restaurant with a detailed introduction to the flavor of the dishes. In addition, I want to know if this restaurant is available at tonight.

Or, if I am doing business, I would like to know the seller's product details. If multiple sellers can provide me with information, I 'd like to know which seller has the cheapest goods or which seller can deliver the fastest.

There are still no such services today, mainly for two reasons. The first reason is that there is no proper standard to describe all information types. The second reason is that today's merchants use their own methods to tell others what they are selling. The emergence of XML provides a standard for describing all information types. The second reason can be attributed to the difficulty of the development work necessary to provide such services.

Microsoft predicts that selling services will be the path to the future. In other words, the company will provide services and the users who are served will pay for the services. Many services will be free, and some services will be charged by month or by the number of users. When writing this articleArticleThe details of how individuals and business companies pay for these services are unclear; we must first take a look at how such businesses will be carried out. You can regard services as the realization of some abstract commercial concepts. Here are some simple service examples:

Convert the zip code to the latitude and longitude positions;

Verify the purchasing power of a credit card;

Find a way to arrive at another place from a certain place;

Find a desired restaurant;

Manage an online photo album;

Controls an online calendar;

I can continue to imagine the services that a company should implement.

Without doubt, Microsoft will provide such services in the near future. Other companies will provide other services, and they will be fully involved (even with Microsoft) in a free market.

So, how can we get to the world where services can be easily implemented from today's environment? In addition, how can we use and combine the concept of service to create applications with rich features?Program(This application is based on HTML or other methods? For example, if all restaurants provide the menu listing service, you can create such an application to find the restaurant you want to eat. Query the menus of each restaurant, find the cooking flavor or dish that the user needs, and find the restaurant near the user.

To create an application like this, the service provider must provide logical interfaces on the program for their business services. This programming interface must be called by a remote network, such as the Internet. This is microsoft.net initiative.

Let me explain it like this: the computer is connected to peripheral devices (memory, display, digital camera, scanner, and others. The development platform provided by the operating system (like Windows) enables applications to abstract and access these peripheral devices. In this way, you can regard these peripheral devices as services. In the new world, services (or peripheral devices) will be connected to the Internet.

Developers want a simple way to access these services. Microsoft.net initiative provides such a development platform.

It can be determined that Microsoft does not have any standards related to actual events in the future. On the Internet, communication between applications and services is completed through HTTP packets. In the http package, XML data needs to be served. After that, the server completes the response by sending the XML data back to the customer. XML data has formal standards. This standard is called Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP ). Microsoft helps define these standards, but does not possess them.

The following figure shows a Web Service Group that sends XML data to each other through the SOAP protocol. The image also shows that customers can communicate with other customers through the web server in the soap (XML) mode. In addition, the service results in the HTML format obtained from the Web server are displayed in graphs. Of course, you may need to enter a web form for the Web server. The Web server processes the customer's requirements (including communications with other Web servers) and returns the results to the customer through standard HTML pages.

In addition, the operating system that meets the soap requirements must be run on the computer that provides the service. This operating system may be a Windows operating system, but it is not required. Any operating system that can receive requests on the socket port and read and write data on the port can. In the near future, cellular phones, pagers, automobiles, microwave ovens, refrigerators, watches, stereo audios, game consoles and various other devices will be able to join the new world.

On the client or application side, the operating system must be able to read/write to the socket port to issue service requirements. In addition, the operating system running on the client's computer must support any requirements of end-user applications. If an end user's application wants to create a window or menu, the operating system must provide this function, or the developer of this application must implement it manually.

Of course, Microsoft wants people to use the rich features of windows to compile applications. However, this is not necessarily a necessary condition. What I try to say is that no matter whether Microsoft is involved or not, new changes will happen. Microsoft's technology cannot cause these changes. Microsot.net makes it easy for developers to create and access these services. Today, if we need it, we can create our own operating system. But it is really difficult and will take a long time. We can write Web Services and program for receiving and processing soap requirements. But it is also difficult.

Microsoft has completed all the hard work for us to produce Microsoft. NET. It makes the work easier. Now, application developers like us can focus on the abstract business concepts and services that we care about. As for communication protocols and construction, they are handed over to Microsoft. (This may be the real reason why Microsoft has many developers who like it ).

Letter from the author:

I haven't been in touch for a long time. Is everything going well?

I saw Jeffrey Richter's comment on. NET on codeguru. I like Programming Application for Microsoft Windows, So I simply translated it.

There are a lot of people discussing. Net now. I hope this brief introduction can be used to attract more people of insight to express their views.