Microsoft .NET Compact Framework (.NET CF) is a version of the .NET Framework that is designed to run applications on devices based on the Windows CE platform, such as PDAs, mobile phones, factory controllers and others. The .NET Compact Framework uses libraries similar to the full version of the .NET Framework, but there are special library collections for mobile devices, for example, Windows CE InputPanel.
Applications that use the .NET Compact Framework can be developed in Visual Studio .NET 2003, in Visual Studio 2005 and in Visual Studio 2008, in C # or in Visual Basic .NET. The result of the development is special applications for mobile devices with high performance (executed with the help of the JIT compiler).
To run .NET Compact Framework applications, the platform must have support for the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework. Some operating systems that include .NET CF can run Windows CE 4.1, Microsoft Pocket PC, Microsoft Pocket PC 2002, and Smartphone 2003 applications. .NET Compact Framework applications can run on desktops with a full .NET Framework if the application uses Common functionality for both Framework, although their user interface can not be made similar to PC applications.
The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 3.5 Redistributable package contains common sets of .NET Compact Framework libraries and environments. In addition, in version 3.5 there is support for applications written for versions 1.0 and 2.0. .NET Compact Framework 3.5 provides new features, such as Windows Communication Foundation, LINQ, SoundPlayer, support for new environment tools and many other features.