Question about .NET backwards compatibility

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09-07-2006
gunder

Question about .NET backwards compatibility

Hey guys, I posted this on the microsoft forums and havn't got a reply that anwers my question so I thought I'd ask you all of you.

I'm new to C# and the .NET framework. I recently decided to check it out because I heard about XNA and wanted to play with it. I was looking around for some things that were written in C#, games specifically and I came across Arena Wars. When I try to run it it tells me I need a 1.x version of the .NET framework, I have 2.0 installed. Does that mean that it's not backwards compatible and that end users will eventually need two or three different versions of the framework installed in order to reliably run programs written in C#?
09-07-2006
maxorator

So sad...
Good that I'm not C# programmer :D

You answered your own question...
09-07-2006
pianorain

Yes and no. If there have been no breaking changes to any parts of the runtime that the application uses and the application has the proper configuration file, then the application can be made to run with later runtimes. Personally, I wouldn't place much stock in that, since there's no way to know what changes will be made in v3.0 or v4.0 when you're writing v2.0 code, so you can't know if there will be a breaking change.
09-11-2006
quzah

.NET backwards is TEN. It's compatible with most people, since it seems to coincide with fingers, if your include your thumbs.

Just thought I'd answer your question, since no one else did...

Quzah.
09-15-2006
Frobozz

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunder

When I try to run it it tells me I need a 1.x version of the .NET framework, I have 2.0 installed. Does that mean that it's not backwards compatible and that end users will eventually need two or three different versions of the framework installed in order to reliably run programs written in C#?

Seems more that the program is checking for a specific version of .NET and not running if it doesn't find it. Sounds like more of a coder error - particularly with a dumb programmer. I had a Star Trek game once that had to be unofficially patched because the idiots explicitly checked for 8.1 - it therefore wouldn't run on 9.:rolleyes:

Edit: To better answer your question, I'd imagine each release of .NET supports the previous releases much like DirectX 9 supports previous DirectX features.
09-15-2006
pianorain

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frobozz

Edit: To better answer your question, I'd imagine each release of .NET supports the previous releases much like DirectX 9 supports previous DirectX features.

Why are you imagining things? One quick google search will give you the real answer.