Hi there!
In this article, we are going to give an overview of the .NET platform. It can become confusing because of its development history.
What is the .NET?
.NET is a free, open-source development platform that allows you to build cross-platform applications. In general, .NET is the umbrella term for all .NET implementations and workloads. .NET is not a programming language. You can create apps using programming languages such as C#, F#, or VB under the .NET platform.
Implementations of .NET
A .NET app is developed for and runs in one or more .NET implementations. There are four .NET implementations that Microsoft supports:
- NET 5 (and .NET Core) and later versions
- NET Framework
- Mono
- UWP
Understanding .NET Framework
.NET Framework is one of the implementations of .NET platform that includes a Common Language Runtime (CLR), which manages the execution of code, and a Base Class Library (BCL), which provides a rich library of classes to build applications from.
Practically speaking, .NET Framework is Windows-only and a legacy implementation that has existed since 2002.
Understanding Mono
Third parties developed a .NET Framework implementation named the Mono. It is the runtime that powers Xamarin applications on Android, macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS and is focused primarily on a small footprint. Mono also powers games built using the Unity engine.
Understanding Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is an implementation of .NET that is used for building modern, touch-enabled Windows applications and software for the IoT.
It’s designed to unify the different types of devices that you may want to target, including PCs, tablets, phablets, phones, and even the Xbox.
Understanding .NET Core
Over time, usage of different operating systems has increased. So, the .NET Framework usage has decreased because of its dependence on Windows. In 2016, Microsoft developed a new implementation which can run on any platform and branded it .NET Core. It includes a cross-platform implementation of the CLR known as CoreCLR and a streamlined BCL known as CoreFX.
.NET Core has been renamed .NET since version 5 and the major number has skipped the number four to avoid confusion with .NET Framework 4.x.
Microsoft has focused on .NET. The latest version of C# along with the .NET platform are released every year. It means we can take advantage of the new cool features of C#. Microsoft plans on annual major version release every November.
Understanding .NET Runtime and .NET SDK Versions
.NET Runtime is the execution environment for a managed program, on a machine that you want to prepare for running .NET apps. Its versioning follows semantic versioning, that is, a major increment indicates breaking changes, minor increments indicate new features, and patch increments indicate bug fixes.
SDK stands for software development kit. It’s a set of software tools and programs used by developers to create applications for specific platforms. .NET SDK versioning does not follow semantic versioning. The major and minor version numbers are tied to the runtime version it is matched with. The patch number follows a convention that indicates the major and minor versions of the SDK.
