Microsoft .NET Framework
Microsoft .NET Framework (Source: Wikipedia)
.NET Framework is a software development framework developed by Microsoft that supports many languages like C#, Visual Basic, F#, etc. .NET Framework includes a large class library called Framework Class Library which provides language interoperability. .NET Framework uses an environment known as Common Language Runtime to execute the programs written in different languages. Common Language Runtime is also known as CLR which converts code into MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language) i.e. Machine level language. CLR also provides services like security, memory management, exception handling, etc.
Microsoft started the development of the .NET framework in the late 1990s, originally under the Next Generation Windows Services, and by late 2000, the first beta version of the .NET Framework was released. Then after so many changes have come to .NET Framework in different versions. In this article, I am trying to cover basic details of different versions of the .NET Framework and features that are included in every version.
Overview of .NET Framework
Overview of .NET Framework (Source: Wikipedia)
As shown in the above figure there are so many different versions that are available which provide different functionality. Actually, It is backward compatible; i.e., the Upper level provides the functionality of lower levels. So version 4.6.1 provides all the functionality of lower levels of the .NET Framework.
1. .NET Framework 1.0
The first version of .NET Framework.
2. .NET Framework 1.1
C# Version: 1.2(April 2003)
CLR Version: 1.1
Major Features,
3. .NET Framework 2.0
C# Version: 2.0(November 2013)
CLR Version: 2.0
Major Features,
4. .NET Framework 3.0
C# Version: 3.0(November 2007)
CLR Version: 2.0
Major Features:,
5. .NET Framework 3.5
C# Version: 3.0(November 2007)
CLR Version: 2.0
Major Features,
6. .NET Framework 4.0
C# Version: 4.0(April 2010)
CLR Version: 4
Major Features,
7. .NET Framework 4.5
C# Version: 5.0(August 2012)
CLR Version: 4
Major Features,
8. .NET Framework 4.5.1
C# Version: 5.0
CLR Version: 4.0
Major Features,
9. .NET Framework 4.5.2
C# Version: 5.0
CLR Version: 4.0
Major Features,
10. .NET Framework 4.6
C# Version: 6.0
CLR Version: 4.0
Major Features,
11. .NET Framework 4.6.1
C# Version: 6.0
CLR Version: 4.0
Major Features,
12. .NET Framework 4.6.2
C# Version: 6.0
CLR Version: 4.0
Major Features,

Conclusion

These are the different versions of the .NET Framework with features included in every new version. I used MSDN and other sites as a reference to make this article better.