Why should the Developers Consider .NET Core Cross-Platform?

.NET Core is an open-source and free framework for creating cross-platform apps targeting Linux, Windows, and macOS. It can run applications on the cloud, the IoT, and devices. 4 cross-platform scenarios are supported by it; namely, command-line apps, ASP.NET Core Web apps, libraries as well as Web APIs. .NET Core 3, which has been released recently, can support Windows rendering forms such as WPF, WinForms, and UWP only on Windows.

Historically, the .NET Framework can work on the Windows platform only. Being released in 2002, it has numerous apps created using it running on Windows desktops and servers. 4.7.2 happens to be the most stable .NET Framework version. Using the Mono project, the programmers could bring the .NET code onto macOS, mobile gadgets, and Linux (but excluding the apps). Consequently, a couple of separate apps for cross-platform compatibility were being managed by them. At present, they can target virtually any platform without changing any code with the aid of .net Core. In a nutshell, it is now possible for them to “write once, and run anywhere.”

.NET Core happens to be amongst the most active .NET Foundation projects at present. Companies and individuals can adopt it freely for personal, commercial, or academic purposes. .NET Core is used by many businesses as a part of tools, applications, new platforms, and hosting services. Notable contributions are made by several of these companies to .NET Core on GitHub, and they also provide guidance on product direction and are an integral part of the .NET Foundation Technical Steering Group. This group consists of Google, Microsoft, Unity, Red Hat, JetBrains, and Samsung.

.NET Core helps the developers belonging to any reputed ASP.NET development company create and run .NET code on several preferred platforms.

Must Read: Why Enterprises Choose ASP.NET Core for Web Application Development?

Why should the developers consider .NET Core?

Until 2010, every company wanted to use the SOA pattern with API interfaces for designing its apps. First, they selected the server operating system, followed by the client components. However, after confirming the server platform, it became quite tough to move between the platforms. As a result, Java has turned out to be a natural choice for developing cross-platform applications, and Python and Node have been included in the list right now.

Essential aspects to consider regarding .NET Core

 1. Cross-Platform –

.Net Core runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux OS. it will enable you to target any type of application operating on a platform. It is possible for the developers providing ASP.NET Development services to reuse code and skills across them in an already acquainted environment. .NET Core provides a solution for you, ranging from mobile apps running on Android, iOS, and Windows to enterprise server apps running on Linux and Windows Server, or even large-scale microwaves operating in the cloud.

2. Flexible deployment –

It is feasible to incorporate .NET Core in your application, or it can also be set up user-wide, machine-wide, and side-by-side. One can use it with Docker containers typically running Linux at present, and it can host ASP.NET Core apps, enabling them to use the benefits provided by microservices and containers.

3. Modular –

The usage of NuGet packages is supported by .NET Core. Rather than assemblies, it is now possible for programmers to work with NuGet packages. The framework updates in the .NET Framework are usually serviced using Windows updates; however, the .NET Core depends on the package manager for updates.

4. Open Source –

Being open-source, .NET Core makes use of Apache 2 and MIT licenses. It belongs to the .NET Foundation, an autonomous non-profit providing support to the commercial and innovative .NET ecosystem, which is also open source-friendly. More than 25,000 programmers working in more than 1600 companies are presently providing asp.net development services by contributing to the .NET open-source codebase. There has been a rapid growth of the .NET community, and it can boast of having quite a few libraries and community projects obtainable for free. Besides Microsoft and the community, the .NET platform’s future is guided by the Technical Steering Group members such as Google, Red Hat, JetBrains, Unity, and Samsung.

5. Microservices architecture –

A blend of technologies is allowed by a microservices architecture across a service boundary. .NET Core is gradually getting accepted by this technology blend when it comes to new microservices working with other services or microservices. For instance, it is possible to blend services or microservices developed with Java, the .NET Framework, Ruby, and other technologies.

Lots of infrastructure platforms are available to you. For example, Azure Service Fabric has been designed for big and complicated microservice systems. A fantastic option for stateless microservices happens to be the Azure App Service. Other options based on Docker will fit any type of microservices process. .NET Core is supported by all these platforms,, making them appropriate for hosting microservices.

6. Command-line tools –

These consist of command-line tools which are simple to use for local development and in continuous-integration situations.

7. Tools and productivity –

The Visual Studio product family provides a fantastic .NET development experience on macOS, Windows, and Linux. The Visual Studio Marketplace has got lots of editor extensions from many sources like Microsoft. If you like to use another editor, you will come across .NET plugins and command-line tools for lots of well-known editors. You can take advantage of .NET for creating top-notch apps quickly. Contemporary language constructs such as LINQ (Language Integrated Query), asynchronous programming, and generics help to make the developers of any reputed asp.net development company more productive and efficient. .NET happens to be the most effective platform thanks to its combination of common APIs, extensive class libraries, powerful tooling, and multi-language support offered by the Visual Studio family.

8. Secure and trusted –

.NET Core provides immediate security benefits via its managed run time. A collection of services prevents significant issues such as manipulating bad pointers or modifying compiled code. Microsoft takes the security aspect very seriously, and updates are released by it promptly once any threat is discovered.

9. Performance –

There is no doubt about the fact that .NET Core happens to be fast. It is faster as compared to Go and Node JS. This implies that less compute power is needed by the applications which offer better response time as well. More than 5 million page views are served by Stackoverflow each day on only nine servers. The well-known TechEmpower benchmark compares Web application frameworks with tasks such as database access, JSON serialization, and server-side template rendering,, which is performed by .NET Core faster than other well-known frameworks.

Microsoft recommends .NET Core to run with ASP.NET Core for the most effective scale and performance. This is vital when lots of microservices are employed, in which case a lesser number of virtual machines and servers are required. Apart from cost savings, a better UX can be provided by the scalability and efficiency gained. For example, Bing.com operates on .NET Core 2.1, and it has witnessed an enhancement in its performance by 34%. Again, this implies that a lesser number of machines will be needed. In addition, Raygun, whose headquarters are located in New Zealand, has reported that its throughput has been enhanced by 2000% by switching to .NET Core from Node JS.

10. Support –

Microsoft is responsible for supporting .NET Core on macOS, Linux, and Windows. It becomes updated several times every year for quality and security. .NET Core binary distributions are created and tested on servers in Azure which are maintained by Microsoft and supported as any product from Microsoft. .NET Core is supported by Red Hat on RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux). Besides building .NET Core from source, it likewise aids in making it available in the Red Hat Software Collections. Microsoft and Red Hat collaborate to make certain that .NET Core functions properly on RHEL.

Must Read: Important ASP.NET Core Features – Need to Know

.NET Core vs .NET Framework

Some basic differences exist between these two, and your choice will depend on what you would like to accomplish. The differences are as follows:

.NET Core for server applications

• In case microservices are targeted by you

• In case you are making use of Docker containers

• When there are cross-platform requirements

• In case you require scalable and high-performance systems

• If you require side-by-side .NET versions, every application

.NET Framework for server applications

• If your app presently uses .NET Framework

• In case your app makes use of 3rd-party .NET libraries

• If your application makes use of a platform that does not support .NET Core

• In case .NET technologies are used by your app, which is not available for .NET Core

Must Read: Benefit and Drawbacks of ASP.NET Core Razor Pages

Advantages of using ASP.NET Core

1. Supports dependency injection –

Since .NET Core provides inbuilt support for dependency injection, a remarkable improvement is provided by this framework in the testability and extensibility of the web apps being built. The developers don’t need to be concerned about using third-party frameworks for including this software design pattern in their web apps.

2. Razor pages help improve coding productivity –

ASP.NET Core aids in making coding more productive thanks to the introduction of razor pages. The page-oriented coding model helps in creating web user interfaces in a much more simplified manner. The code’s organizational structure is likewise much cleaner.

3. Performance enhancement in .NET Core Framework –

Coders usually focus on the performance factor while creating web apps. Therefore, the high-performance aspect gets priority when it comes to the .NET Core framework. Furthermore, the framework optimizes the code automatically at the time of code compilation, which helps enhance its performance to a great extent. At present, ASP.NET Core is considered to be amongst the most efficient web application development frameworks.

Conclusion

ASP.NET Core is considered to be an advanced as well as a powerful technology for creating robust web apps. The majority of businesses search for various ways to create an application quickly and release it in the market within a short period. Because of this, .Net development is believed to be a fantastic way to get the job done. It uses asynchronous programming models for improving the performance of web apps. In case we talk about faster applicability as well as enhancement across industries, then .NET Core apps are ready to be deployed into production. .net Core is implementing an innovative era of enterprise web app development due to the continuous enhancement of its features. Right now .NET Core has become quite popular among enterprises for creating their web applications.