Well, this article is a bit technical, so unless you’re a developer, an engineer or a geek I think you’ll find this boring.
Today marks the release of the first version of .NET Core, along with the new update for Visual Studio.
So, I guess you’re wondering, what is .NET Core? Basically, .NET Core is a smaller, open-sorce and multiplatform version of the already famous .NET Framework. One of the key characteristic is indeed that it runs on Windows, Linux and macOS. And following Satya Nadella’s strategy, it is also open source!
The new framework has been in the works for about two years, although it has changed significantly over that time. It’s good to recap in this post what defines and is included in .NET Core 1.0.
The primary selling points of .NET Core are:
- Cross-platform: Runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.
- Flexible deployment: Can be included in your app or installed side-by-side user- or machine-wide.
- Command-line tools: All product scenarios can be exercised at the command-line.
- Compatible: .NET Core is compatible with .NET Framework, Xamarin and Mono, via the .NET Standard Library.
- Open source: The .NET Core platform is open source, using MIT and Apache 2 licenses. Documentation is licensed under CC-BY. .NET Core is a .NET Foundation project.
- Supported by Microsoft: .NET Core is supported by Microsoft, per .NET Core Support
So if you’re a developer and you’ve been waiting for this one, you can easily install it updating Visual Studio to Update 3, or if you’re so brave you may download it as a standalone.
Also, here’s the Git repository to the full source code of .NET Core, in case you wonder what’s behind those tools.
