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In 60 Seconds... Silverlight 3 Beta: What is Silverlight?

  • Article

Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform implementation of the .NET Framework for building and delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIA) for the Web.

Silverlight offers the following features:

  • It runs in all popular Web browsers, including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari, and on Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X.
  • It is supported by a very small download that installs in seconds.
  • It streams video and audio. It scales video quality to everything from mobile devices to desktop browsers to 720p HDTV video modes.
  • It includes compelling graphics that users can manipulate directly in the browser.
  • WPF and XAML. Silverlight includes a subset of the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) technology, which greatly extends the elements in the browser for creating UI, extending browser-based UI beyond what is available with HTML alone. Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) provides a declarative markup syntax for creating elements.
  • Extensions to JavaScript. Silverlight provides extensions to the universal browser scripting language that provide control over the browser UI.
  • Integration with existing applications. Silverlight integrates seamlessly with your existing JavaScript and ASP.NET AJAX code to complement functionality you have already created.
  • Access to the .NET Framework programming model and to associated tools. You can create Silverlight-based applications using dynamic languages such as IronPython as well as languages such as C# and Visual Basic. You can use development tools such as Visual Studio to create Silverlight-based applications.
  • Networking support. Silverlight includes support for HTTP over TCP. You can connect to WCF, SOAP, or ASP.NET AJAX services and receive XML, JSON, or RSS data.
  • LINQ. Silverlight includes language-integrated query (LINQ), which enables you to program data access using intuitive native syntax and strongly typed objects in .NET Framework languages.

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