The focus of this article will be on the dynamic language support (DLR) that will be released as a part of the upcoming 4.0 version of the .NET Framework.

Learn about the COM Interoperability improvements comingwith the next release of the .NET Framework and how theywill make your COM Interop such as Office applications mucheasier.

In this installment of the .NET Nuts & Bolts column we'll be discussing three industry trends that are influencing the next releases of C# and Visual Basic.

The Entity Framework provides a .NET class-based model of a data store, letting you query the model with LINQ, while the model do the background grunt work of contacting the data store to add, update, or delete data.

Mark Strawmyer shows us another valuable part of the LINQ family, LINQ to SQL. LINQ to SQL allows users to query and manipulate objects associated with relational database tables.

Learn some tips and tricks with the C# 3.0 language features along with exploring some productivity gains with the Visual Studio IDE.

Gain an understanding of LINQ (Language Integrated Query) to XML and see why you'll never want to use the DOM again.

Gain a solid understanding of what Language Integrated Query (LINQ) is and isn't and what it can do for you.

Learn how to avoid possible performance problems in your web applications when using the ASP.NET AJAX TabContainer by employing a technique known as lazy loading.

Learn about the dual-purpose of the C# using keyword. Examine why it can be extremely helpful in object management, and the syntax for its use.

Learn about local type inference in C# 3.0 and Visual Basic 9.0. Examine why it is relevant and the syntax for its use.

Discover what extension methods are, the syntax for using them, and why they are important.

Discover how to build an ASP.NET webpart that will display coordinates on a Virtual Earth-created map. You can do this by using the IWebPart Interface, an HTTP handler, and the Virtual Earth API.

Discover the power behind state machine workflow and how it can be used to more closely match business and other processes.

Activities are the building blocks of workflows. When you use Windows Workflow Foundation, you likely will want to build custom activities to fit your tasks.

Microsoft will introduce the much-anticipated Windows Workflow Foundation (WinWF) as part of the .NET Framework 3. Get the lowdown on WinWF and learn how to build a sequential workflow with it.

Here are several lesser-known tips and tricks that will assist you in building fully functional and well performing Windows Forms applications.

Use ClickOnce technology and smart clients to extend the reach of traditional Windows Forms applications. The process involves some wizard-based configuration and minimal code.

ASP.NET 2.0 provides the ObjectDataSource control to enable you to connect data binding controls to data objects and components. Find out how to select data and display it in a GridView by binding to an ObjectDataSource.

You asked for it... more details on socket communication. Specifically, Mark will focus on blocking versus unblocking sockets. As an added bonus, the solution will include the use of generics and a sample socket connection pool.

The Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 has made several improvements to the System.DirectoryServices namespace. They expand your ability to interact with your enterprise Active Directory.

With the .NET Framework 2.0 release now available, you can explore the C# 2.0 iterators feature. Examine the iterators design pattern and find out what it takes to implement and then modify it manually.

Explore the built-in ASP.NET HTTP handlers and then learn how to create your own custom handlers. When you're done, you'll be able to enable special handling within your Web applications.

Explore dynamic code compilation with a demonstration that creates new assemblies on the fly and compiles them in memory. This functionality has a number of potential uses and benefits.

The security enhancements that the .NET Framework 2.0 made to the TCP channel enable secure TCP communication either through code or application configuration files. Learn how to apply both techniques to .NET remoting clients and servers.

Learn how to create and consume .NET remoting clients and servers using Visual Studio 2005 and the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0. In particular, find out how to use the new IpcChannel for same-box communications.

Serialization introduced many powerful capabilities, but it also introduced problems as you refactor your objects to include new properties. Learn how the version-tolerant serialization included in the upcoming 2.0 Microsoft .NET Framework will help.

Get a sneak preview of the compression and decompression classes that are coming in the .NET Framework 2.0 due out later this year.

Take a foray into ADO.NET to see what's in store for the next release. You'll find some very handy additions and enhancements.

Generics, a new addition in version 2.0 of the .NET Framework, offer a combination of type safety, performance, and generality in the defined type. Find out why generics are valuable and what they can add to your applications.

The Microsoft .NET Framework provides imperative and declarative ways to check for proper permissions prior to attempting an action. Learn how and when to use them.

The .NET Framework uses an evidence-based security system. Learn how you can use the security policy to allow or deny actions to assemblies.

A new namespace in the upcoming 2.0 release of the Microsoft .NET Framework adds support for some very useful network-related items. Explore some of these new items and how you can use them to your advantage.

What are delegates, and what value do they provide? Mark Strawmyer explains why you may already be familiar with them and then digs into some examples of how you can use them.

This month, .NET Nuts & Bolts covers exception handling, examining what exceptions are and why they are important. You'll learn how to use them, how to create custom exceptions, and how to apply common best practices.

This month's .NET Nuts & Bolts covers the different .NET Framework options for diagnosing issues within your applications. A couple of classes provide functionality for debugging and tracking an application's execution path.

The .NET Framework provides native support for lists and collections. Learn the concept behind these classes and why they are especially important with the planned inclusion of generics in version 2.0 of the .NET Framework.

Mark Strawmyer briefly outlines the concept of application configuration files and touches on the native support the Microsoft .NET Framework provides.

Learn how to build a multilingual application using Microsoft .NET. In this installment of the .NET Nuts & Bolts column, Mark Strawmyer outlines the construction and then demonstrates it with examples.

Explore some common creational design patterns and learn how to implement them using Microsoft .NET.

Determine the overall performance of your applications and diagnose those pesky 'undocumented features' with performance counters. Learn the basics of deploying and using features in your instrumentation.

Learn how to create a Windows Service that takes an action on a scheduled interval by using classes in the System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase and System.Timers namespaces, among others.

Examine the task of parsing data from a file using the System.IO namespace in .NET.

Discover how to send e-mail from within your .NET applications using the System.Web.Mail namespace.

Mark not only explains queues, but he also demonstrates writing to and multiple ways for reading from a message queue.

Learn to create simple, yet dynamic, charts and graphs using the Microsoft .NET Framework's System.Drawing namespace.

Discover how to easily store and retrieve objects into a file, a database, or in an ASP session state.

One of these concepts included with C#, but not with Visual Basic .NET, is the ability to overload operators.

Explore how to interact with files from within .NET. The topics covered will include how to get the properties on files in a directory as well as how to use a number of classes in the System.IO namespace.

Explore how to access directory services from within .NET. Cover how to use the Active Directory for items such as searching and providing authentication services for an application.

Does your ASP.NET application access a database? Does it use SQL? Does it have forms for users to enter information? Learn what someone may be able to do to your application, and how you can prevent it.

Mark presents his third and final installment of the series on multithreading. Take a look at how threads can be used to write a server application to accept multiple requests. This will involve using classes from the System.Threading namespace along with classes from the System.Net namespace.

Mark Strawmyer continues his discussion on multithreading, a powerful tool for creating high performance applications. Here he looks at the basic methods involved with working with threads, along with the synchronization of thread activity.

Multithreading is a powerful tool for creating high performance applications, especially those that require user interaction. In this article, you will explore multithreading with the .NET Framework as well as learn how multiple threads can be used to improve an application's user interface.

Visual Studio .NET makes it relatively simple to create a Windows Service. Learn what Windows Services are and how to create, install, and debug them.

Explore COM Interoperability, also known as COM Interop. COM Interop is the means to which COM objects can be used in a .NET application and how .NET objects can be built to appear to be COM objects.

Explore how to build an object in .NET that can log information to a file or the event log.

Retrieving application settings is a pretty common task that falls under the category of another of those tedious and repetitive tasks that programmers have to deal with. Explore a way to eliminate this tedious programming task through a combination of technologies.

Mark Strawmyer provides an overview of cryptography, covers the basics on some of what's available through the .NET Framework, and then focuses on the use of symmetric encryption to protect data such as user passwords.

Remoting is a more efficient means than Web Services for allowing programs to interact. Learn how remoting differs from Web Services and other technologies. More importantly, learn how to implement remoting.

Discover how to build a database access layer within .NET that is database independent.