An introduction to the .NET Core framework

 What is .NET core?

The.NET Core framework is a development interface for developing web apps and utilities frameworks on Windows, iOS, and Linux, as well as WinForms and WPF applications on Windows.

.NET core is an open-source development framework created by Microsoft, basically an extension of .NET and the new world for creating cross-platform applications.

Microsoft officially launched.NET Core on June 27, 2016. .NET Core, like.NET, allows languages to communicate with one another (although a limited number of languages are supported). More specifically, this new framework is no longer restricted to the Windows operating system, but can still run (and be used) on other operating systems on iOS and Linux.

Key Benefits of the .NET Core Platform:

• Interoperability with the current code is (obviously) beneficial. Through.NET Standard, existing.NET application software can communicate with newer.NET Core software and vice versa.
• Multiple programming languages are supported by the .NET Core framework. .NET Core programs can be written in C#, F#, and VB.NET (with C# being the main target for ASP.NET Core).
• All .NET Core languages share a single runtime engine: A well-defined set of types that each.NET Core language understands is one feature of this engine.
• Language Integration: Cross-language inheritance, cross-language exception handling, and cross-language code debugging are all supported by.NET Core. You can, for example, create a base class in C# and then extend it in Visual Basic.
• A large base class library with thousands of predefined styles that you can use to create code libraries, basic terminal applications, graphical desktop applications, and enterprise-level websites.
• The.NET Core libraries are not registered in the system registry, resulting in a streamlined deployment model. Furthermore, the.NET Core platform allows for the coexistence of various iterations of the code as well as programs on a single processor.
• .NET Core Command Line Interface (CLI) is a cross-platform toolchain for designing and packaging.NET Core software with extensive command-line support. Beyond the basic tools that come with the.NET Core SDK, additional tools may be built (globally or locally).

What are the limitations of the .NET framework?

The.NET framework does have certain shortcomings. It, for example, is only compatible with the Windows operating system. In addition, different.NET APIs are needed for different Windows devices, such as Windows Desktop, Windows Store, Windows Phone, and Web apps. Furthermore, the.NET Framework is a widely used framework by many machines. Any improvements made to it have an effect on all apps that depend on it.

Today, it's popular to have a cross-platform app with a backend on a web server, an administrative front-end on a Windows desktop, web and smartphone applications for clients. As a result, a single architecture that works everywhere is needed. In light of this, Microsoft developed.NET Core. The key goal of.NET Core is to make the.NET Framework cross-platform compliant, open-source, and usable in a wide range of industries, from data centres to touch-based applications.

Microsoft released.NET Core 3.0 and C# 8 on September 23, 2019. This version of C# has a number of new additions that may have resulted in breaking improvements in previous.NET Framework versions (as well as .NET Core). Due to the fact that several previous implementations of the.NET Platform were embedded in different Windows operating systems, there was no way to upgrade the framework to support C# 8. As a result, the complete code sample set in this version requires.NET Core 3.1 or higher.

.NET Core Support Lifecycle

Versions of.NET Core are published even more regularly than versions of the.NET Framework. It can be difficult to keep up with all of these launches, particularly in a business development environment. Microsoft has implemented a variant of the Long-Term Support Model, which is widely used for modern open-source frameworks, to help describe the support lifecycle for the updates.

Long-Term Support (LTS) launches are significant updates that will be supported for a long time. Throughout their lifetime, they can only get vital and/or non-breaking updates. LTS models will be changed to servicing status prior to being end-of-life. .NET Core LTS launches will be supported for the following time periods:

• After three years of the initial release.
• One year of repair assistance after each subsequent LTS release

Short-Term Support updates, which are interim releases between new LTS releases, are now referred to as Current by Microsoft. After a subsequent Current or LTS release, they are supported for three (3) months.

Version	Original Release Date	Latest Patch Version	Patch Release Date	Support Level	End of Support
.NET 5	November 10, 2020	5.0.5	April 06, 2021	Current	3 months after .NET 6 release (around February 2022)
.NET Core 3.1	December 3, 2019	3.1.14	April 13, 2021	LTS	December 3, 2022
.NET Core 2.1	May 30, 2018	2.1.27	April 13, 2021	LTS	August 21, 2021

Get more information about the Microsoft .NET core release lifecycle, supported versions and out of support version from here.

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