Base Class Library (BCL)

• The Base Class Library (BCL) is a standard library available to all languages using the .NET Framework


• .NET includes the BCL in order to encapsulate a large number of common functions, such as file reading and writing, graphic rendering, database interaction, and XML document manipulation.


• It is much larger in scope than standard libraries for most other languages, including C++, and would be comparable in scope to the standard libraries of Java.


• The BCL is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Framework Class Library (FCL), which is a superset including the Microsoft.* namespaces.


• The BCL is updated with each version of the .NET Framework.