NET Micro Framework Platform SDK

The Microsoft .NET Micro Framework is a powerful and flexible platform for rapidly creating embedded device firmware with Microsoft Visual Studio.

You can now develop firmware for devices that are too constrained to run Microsoft Windows CE and the .NET Compact Framework. With the .NET Micro Framework, you can use Visual Studio to write, test, and debug software on your hardware just as you would when developing software for the .NET Framework or the .NET Compact Framework.

.NET Micro Framework brings essential benefits of the Microsoft .NET platform to devices that do not need the full functionality that is available in the .NET Framework and the .NET Compact Framework. Our target is devices that operate below the functionality range of those for which software developers typically use the .NET Compact Framework to develop embedded applications.

The architecture of the .NET Micro Framework provides you with the tools necessary to develop your firmware as managed C# applications. It does this by making use of specialized versions of the .NET common language runtime (CLR) and the .NET Framework class library. For details, see .NET Micro Framework Architecture and .NET Micro Framework Programming Model.