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.NET Core: An Introduction and Overview

.NET Core is a free, open-source, cross-platform, and general-purpose development platform for building various types of applications. It is a modern and modular version of .NET Framework that runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and other operating systems. It supports multiple programming languages, such as C#, F#, and Visual Basic. It also provides a rich set of libraries and tools for developing, testing, and deploying applications.

In this article, you'll learn about the main features, benefits, and components of .NET Core. You'll also learn about the history and evolution of .NET Core and how it differs from .NET Framework.

Features of .NET Core​

.NET Core has many features that make it a powerful and flexible platform for building applications. Some of the key features are:

  • Open-source: .NET Core is an open-source project maintained by Microsoft and the community on GitHub. You can view, download, or contribute to the source code using various repositories. You can also use different licenses for your applications, such as MIT or Apache 2.
  • Cross-platform: .NET Core runs on multiple operating systems, such as Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and IoT devices. It also supports different architectures, such as x64, x86, and ARM. You can write your code once and run it anywhere with the same behavior and performance.
  • Modular: .NET Core is composed of small and independent components that you can use as needed. You can choose the runtime, libraries, and tools that suit your application requirements. You can also use NuGet packages to add additional functionality from third-party sources.
  • High-performance: .NET Core is optimized for speed and efficiency. It uses a just-in-time (JIT) compiler that compiles your code on demand and a garbage collector that manages your memory automatically. It also supports asynchronous programming, parallel processing, and span types for low-level memory management.
  • Wide-range of applications: You can use .NET Core to build different types of applications, such as web apps, web APIs, microservices, cloud apps, desktop apps, mobile apps, games, machine learning apps, IoT apps, and more. You can also use various frameworks and libraries that are compatible with .NET Core, such as ASP.NET Core, Entity Framework Core, ML.NET, Xamarin.Forms, Unity, etc.

Benefits of .NET Core​

.NET Core has many benefits that make it a desirable platform for developers and businesses. Some of the main benefits are:

  • Productivity: .NET Core enables you to write less code and achieve more results. It has a simple and expressive syntax that is easy to read and write. It also has a rich set of libraries that provide common functionality for various scenarios. It also has powerful tools that help you with coding, debugging, testing, deploying, and monitoring your applications.
  • Reliability: .NET Core ensures that your applications run smoothly and consistently across different environments. It has a robust error handling mechanism that prevents your applications from crashing or hanging. It also has a comprehensive testing framework that helps you detect and fix bugs early in the development cycle.
  • Scalability: .NET Core allows you to scale your applications up or down according to your needs. It has a lightweight and modular design that reduces the memory footprint and startup time of your applications. It also supports containerization and orchestration technologies that enable you to deploy your applications in distributed and cloud-based environments.
  • Security: .NET Core protects your applications from various threats and attacks. It has a built-in authentication and authorization system that helps you control access to your resources. It also supports encryption and hashing algorithms that help you secure your data. It also follows the latest security standards and best practices for web development.

Components of .NET Core​

.NET Core consists of three main components: the runtime, the libraries, and the SDK.

  • Runtime: The runtime is the core component that executes your code and provides essential services for your applications. It includes the Common Language Runtime (CLR) that compiles your code into intermediate language (IL) code and executes it using a virtual machine (VM). It also includes the Base Class Library (BCL) that provides basic types and functions for common tasks.
  • Libraries: The libraries are additional components that provide specialized functionality for various scenarios. They include the ASP.NET Core library that provides web development features such as routing, middleware, controllers, views, etc. They also include the Entity Framework Core library that provides data access features such as querying, updating, tracking, etc.
  • SDK: The SDK is the set of tools that help you develop, build, and test your applications. It includes the .NET CLI that provides command-line interface for creating, running, and publishing your applications. It also includes the Visual Studio Code editor that provides a lightweight and cross-platform IDE for writing and debugging your code.

History and Evolution of .NET Core​

.NET Core is the result of a long and complex evolution of .NET Framework, which is the original and most widely used version of .NET. .NET Framework was first released in 2002 by Microsoft as a platform for building Windows-based applications. It was later expanded to support web, mobile, and cloud development. However, .NET Framework had some limitations and challenges, such as:

  • It was only available on Windows operating system.
  • It was a monolithic framework that included many features that were not always needed or used.
  • It was a machine-wide framework that affected all applications that depended on it.
  • It was not fully open-source or community-driven.

To overcome these limitations and challenges, Microsoft decided to create a new version of .NET that would be more modern, modular, cross-platform, and open-source. This new version was initially called .NET Core 5 in 2014, but later renamed to .NET Core 1.0 in 2016. Since then, .NET Core has been continuously improved and updated with new features and enhancements. The latest version of .NET Core is .NET 6.0, which was released in November 2021.

.NET Core is not a replacement or successor of .NET Framework. It is a parallel and independent version of .NET that has its own advantages and disadvantages. .NET Framework is still supported and maintained by Microsoft for existing applications that rely on it. However, for new applications, Microsoft recommends using .NET Core as the preferred platform.

Next Steps​

In this article, you learned about the main features, benefits, and components of .NET Core. You also learned about the history and evolution of .NET Core and how it differs from .NET Framework.

To learn more about .NET Core, you can follow one of these resources: