Why should you start with .NET 5 Framework?

We all know Microsoft.NET technology has been the most popular technology for the past two decades in the IT industry, growing from desktop applications to web applications, microservices, APIs, mobile applications, etc. Subsequently, they released many frameworks like the .NET framework, .NET compact framework, .NET Micro Framework, DotGNU, Mono, and XNA Framework with great support, efficiency, and as preindustrial requirements.

In this article, we have attempted to explain the basics of .NET 5.0 and all the necessary reasons to start with the .NET 5 Framework.

.NET Framework Timeline

Image Source: Nimble Gecko

• .NET Framework was first released on 13 February 2002 and followed the nine versions: Visual Studio.
• Along with this wide range of releases, they introduced frameworks for mobile, desktop, web applications, embedded devices such as set-top boxes, etc.
• .NET Framework had one major flaw: cross-platform framework .Net framework was not a cross-platform framework.
• To achieve cross-platform compatibility, they released .NET Core with new features like open-source, modular architecture, lightweight, fast, etc.

Introduction to .NET 5 Framework

The evolution continued for the .Net framework, and now, they have introduced significant updates on .NET core versions called .NET 5, released in November 2020. This is the next version of the .NET core, with all Microsoft's frameworks under one roof. It is a unified platform with long-term Microsoft support for developing resources like desktop, web, cloud, mobile, gaming, IoT, AI, etc. They have skipped .NET version 4 to dispel the confusion between the .NET Framework version 4. X series and enable the developer to communicate with .NET 5 directly. It will also be supported with future updates to Visual Studio 2019, Visual Studio for Mac, and Visual Studio Code. The .NET 5 is also known as ONE.NET.

Image Source: Microsoft

Key features to improve .NET 5

• To provide a unified runtime development experience to produce a framework as a single station
• Build a single code-based product, so the developer can develop all possible scenarios and also expand together
• Expand .NET 5 by utilizing the best of .NET Framework, Xamarin, Mono, and .NET Core

Some features inherited from .NET Core are:

• Cross-Platform implementation
• Open source and strong community support on GitHub
• Developer benefits of platform-specific capacity such as windows forms, a native platform like Xamarin
• Highly efficient
• Supports command-line interface (CLI)
• Great Support with Visual Studio, Visual Studio for Mac, and Visual Studio Code

Runtime experience in .NET 5

Let us consider the two runtimes: Mono, famous for developing mobile device apps, and Core CLR, used to run .NET Core applications. As .NET 5, assuming all are in one line, they make it a build switch between the different runtime options.

Productivity and throughput in .NET 5

.NET uses the just-in-time compiler to translate code in CPU instructions. It is the most efficient code compiler used to produce efficient specific CPU instructions. .NET 5 has the same productivity and throughput as we have in .NET core and .NET Frameworks.

.NET 5 MAUI

.NET 5 introduces the new Multi-platform App UI cross-platform native UI development framework in which users can build interfaces for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows platforms. This is a significant update on Xamarin Forms and supports a new Model-View-Update (MVU) pattern.

Single file application in .NET 5

Your code, dependencies, and .NET runtime will be bundled into a single file, and this file can publish and deploy, even if you don't need to install .NET runtime for the target environment. This kind of functionality is supported by .NET 5.

No Support in .NET 5, but you have an alternative.

1. ms: Web forms are not supported by .NET Core, so in .NET 5, they continue not to support it. But you have an excellent alternative for traditional web development as Razor pages and single-page applications as Blazor.
2. Windows Communication Foundation: The Windows Communication Foundation is traditional service-oriented communication for windows. Still, as .NET 5 is a cross-platform framework, there is a present alternative as CoreWCF, a past feature of .NET Core.
3. Windows Workflow Foundation: Windows workflow foundation is workflow engine technology provided by .NET Framework. So, they suggest using CoreWF in .NET 5 technology.

Key Features which will make you choose .NET 5

• Developers can choose their operating system to develop the application as they have a given Integrated Development Environment as a Visual Studio. Visual Studio Code runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows with third-party debugging and IntelliSense.
• Azure Service Fabric and Azure App Service's remarkable capability allows entry into microservices with mixed microservice support like Ruby, Java, etc.
• You can develop and deploy containerized images with .NET 5; they are lightweight and modular, making you a better choice for container development technology.

.NET Release Schedule

Image Source: Microsoft

As .NET 5 was released in November 2020, the next release, i.e., .NET 6, is expected on November 2021 with Long term Support (LTS). Finally, .NET 7 should be expected to release in November 2022 and .NET 8 in November 2023.