Why C# is an open standard but .NET is not?

Why C# is an open standard but .NET is not? What is the point in this? Why Microsoft decide to open only some part of their .NET开发者_Python百科?

Various parts of the .NET runtime are indeed standardised by ECMA just like C# - CIL, the CLI, the CLS.

.NET is the runtime and C# is the language. C# can be compiled and run on other runtimes, such as Mono. I am actually not aware of any other runtimes besides Mono, but since the spec for C# is open, you could read it and make your own runtime. ;)

C#, like Java, C, C++, etc. is just a language definition. In and of itself, it does nothing. It defines the means by which a user can define a program or procedure and interface with external libraries.

The .NET framework, on the other hand, is not a language. It's a class library and development framework.

Actually, there is an open standard (ECMA 335 for the runtime api instead of ECMA 334 for the language).

Going beyond this, the source code for Microsoft's implementation of .Net is available and there are multiple separate implementations (the most prominent of which by far is mono).

There is some additional concern about patent encumbrance. However, Microsoft has also issued a legally binding and irrevocable community promise on the .Net platform that covers both specifications (a lot of people miss the legally binding part).

I assume you mean the framework. I guess they want to maintain control over the library implementation on Windows. There is nothing stopping someone from implementing a call-compatible version of all or part of the framework based on their own source as was done by Mono.