C# and the .NET framework: ready for real time?

Microsoft's integrated development environment, Visual Studio.NET, includes a new programming language C# (pronounced "C sharp"), which targets the .NET Framework. Both the .NET Framework and C# are fairly well-documented technologies, but the platform's appropriateness for real-time systems has not received much attention. Microsoft doesn't specifically claim that C# and NET are intended for real-time systems, but many of the platform's general purpose features including type unsafe features, thread synchronization, and overflow-sensitive arithmetic apply to real-time systems. This article will further explore C# and the .NET Framework's suitability for real-time systems.