25/10/23, 22:34 .NET (and .NET Core) - introduction and overview - .

NET | Microsoft Learn

What is .NET? Introduction and overview

Article • 03/24/2023

.NET is a free , cross-platform, open-source developer platform for building many kinds
of applications. .NET is built on a high-performance runtime that is used in production by
many high-scale apps .

Cloud apps

Cloud native apps

Console apps
Serverless functions in the cloud
Web apps, web APIs, and microservices

Cross-platform client apps

Desktop apps
Games
Mobile apps

Windows apps

Windows Desktop apps

Windows Forms
Windows WPF
Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
Windows services

Other app types

Machine learning
Internet of Things (IoT)

Features
.NET features allow developers to productively write reliable and performant code.

Asynchronous code
Attributes
Reflection

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/introduction 1/9
25/10/23, 22:34 .NET (and .NET Core) - introduction and overview - .NET | Microsoft Learn

Code analyzers
Delegates and lambdas
Events
Exceptions
Garbage collection
Generic types
LINQ (Language Integrated Query).
Parallel programming and Managed threading
Type inference - C#, F#, Visual Basic.
Type system
Unsafe code

Using .NET
.NET apps and libraries are built from source code and a project file, using the .NET CLI or
an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) like Visual Studio .

The following example is a minimal .NET app:

Project file:

XML

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
<PropertyGroup>
<OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
<TargetFramework>net7.0</TargetFramework>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>

Source code:

C#

Console.WriteLine("Hello, World!");

The app can be built and run with the .NET CLI:

.NET CLI

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/introduction 2/9
25/10/23, 22:34 .NET (and .NET Core) - introduction and overview - .NET | Microsoft Learn

dotnet run
Hello, World!

Binary distributions
.NET SDK: Set of tools, libraries, and runtimes for development, building, and testing
apps.
.NET Runtimes : Set of runtimes and libraries, for running apps.

You can download .NET from:

The Microsoft download site .

Containers .
Linux package managers.

Free and open source

.NET is free, open source, and is a .NET Foundation project. .NET is maintained by
Microsoft and the community on GitHub in several repositories .

.NET source and binaries are licensed with the MIT license . Additional licenses apply on
Windows for binary distributions.

Support
Microsoft supports .NET on Android, Apple, Linux, and Windows operating systems. It
can be used on Arm64, x64, and x86 architectures. It's also supported in emulated
environments, like macOS Rosetta 2 .

New versions of .NET are released annually in November. .NET releases in odd-numbered
years are Long-Term Support (LTS) releases and are supported for three years. Releases in
even-numbered years are Standard-Term Support (STS) releases and are supported for 18
months. The quality level, breaking change policies, and all other aspects of the releases
are the same. For more information, see Releases and support.

The .NET Team at Microsoft works collaboratively with other organizations to distribute and
support .NET in various ways.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/introduction 3/9
25/10/23, 22:34 .NET (and .NET Core) - introduction and overview - .NET | Microsoft Learn

Red Hat supports .NET on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

Samsung supports .NET on Tizen platforms.

Runtime
The Common Language Runtime (CLR) is the foundation all .NET apps are built on. The
fundamental features of the runtime are:

Garbage collection.
Memory safety and type safety.
High level support for programming languages.
Cross-platform design.

.NET is sometimes called a "managed code" runtime. It's called managed primarily because
it uses a garbage collector for memory management and because it enforces type and
memory safety. The CLR virtualizes (or abstracts) various operating system and hardware
concepts, such as memory, threads, and exceptions.

The CLR was designed to be a cross-platform runtime from its inception. It has been ported
to multiple operating systems and architectures. Cross-platform .NET code typically does
not need to be recompiled to run in new environments. Instead, you just need to install a
different runtime to run your app.

The runtime exposes various diagnostics services and APIs for debuggers, dumps and
tracing tools, and observability. The observability implementation is primarily built around
OpenTelemetry , enabling flexible application monitoring and site reliability
engineering (SRE).

The runtime offers low-level C-style interop functionality, via a combination of P/Invoke,
value types, and the ability to blit values across the native/managed-code boundary.

Languages
The runtime is designed to support multiple programming languages. C#, F#, and Visual
Basic languages are supported by Microsoft and are designed in collaboration with the
community.

C# is a modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. It has its

roots in the C family of languages and will be immediately familiar to C, C++, Java,
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/introduction 4/9
25/10/23, 22:34 .NET (and .NET Core) - introduction and overview - .NET | Microsoft Learn

and JavaScript programmers.

F# is an interoperable programming language for writing succinct, robust, and

performant code. F# programming is data-oriented, where code involves
transforming data with functions.

Visual Basic uses a more verbose syntax that is closer to ordinary human language. It
can be an easier language to learn for people new to programming.

Compilation
.NET apps (as written in a high-level language like C#) are compiled into an Intermediate
Language (IL) . IL is a compact code format that can be supported on any operating
system or architecture. Most .NET apps use APIs that are supported in multiple
environments, requiring only the .NET runtime to run.

IL needs to be compiled to native code to execute on a CPU, for example, Arm64 or x64.
.NET supports both Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) and Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation models.

On Android, macOS, and Linux, JIT compilation is the default, and AOT is optional (for
example, with ReadyToRun).
On iOS, AOT is mandatory (except when running in the simulator).
In WebAssembly (Wasm) environments, AOT is mandatory.

The advantage of the JIT is that it can compile an app (unmodified) to the CPU instructions
and calling conventions in a given environment, per the underlying operating system and
hardware. It can also compile code at higher or lower levels of quality to enable better
startup and steady-state throughput performance.

The advantage of AOT is that it provides the best app startup and can (in some cases) result
in smaller deployments. The primary downside is that binaries must be built for each
separate deployment target (the same as any other native code). AOT code is not
compatible with some reflection patterns.

Runtime libraries
.NET has a comprehensive standard set of class libraries. These libraries provide
implementations for many general-purpose and workload-specific types and utility
functionality.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/introduction 5/9
25/10/23, 22:34 .NET (and .NET Core) - introduction and overview - .NET | Microsoft Learn

Here are some examples of types defined in the .NET runtime libraries:

Every .NET type derives from the System.Object type.

Primitive value types, such as System.Boolean and System.Int32.
Collections, such as System.Collections.Generic.List<T> and
System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary<TKey,TValue>.
Data types, such as System.Data.DataSet and System.Data.DataTable.
Network utility types, such as System.Net.Http.HttpClient.
File and stream I/O utility types, such as System.IO.FileStream and
System.IO.TextWriter.
Serialization utility types, such as System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer and
System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.
High-performance types, such as System.Span<T>, System.Numerics.Vector, and
Pipelines.

For more information, see the Runtime libraries overview.

NuGet Package Manager

NuGet is the package manager for .NET. It enables developers to share compiled binaries
with each other. NuGet.org offers many popular packages from the community.

Tools
The .NET SDK is a set of libraries and tools for developing and running .NET applications. It
includes the MSBuild build engine, the Roslyn (C# and Visual Basic) compiler, and the
F# compiler. Most commands are run by using the dotnet command. The CLI tools can
be used for local development and continuous integration.

The Visual Studio family of IDEs offer excellent support for .NET and the C#, F#, and
Visual Basic languages.

GitHub Codespaces and GitHub security features support .NET.

Notebooks
.NET Interactive is a group of CLI tools and APIs that enable users to create interactive
experiences across the web, markdown, and notebooks.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/introduction 6/9
25/10/23, 22:34 .NET (and .NET Core) - introduction and overview - .NET | Microsoft Learn

For more information, see the following resources:

.NET In-Browser Tutorial

Using .NET notebooks with Jupyter on your machine
.NET Interactive documentation

CI/CD
MSBuild and the .NET CLI can be used with various continuous integration tools and
environments, such as:

GitHub Actions
GitHub Actions and .NET
Azure DevOps
CAKE for C#
FAKE for F#

For more information, see Use the .NET SDK in Continuous Integration (CI) environments.

Deployment models
.NET apps can be published in two different modes:

Self-contained apps include the .NET runtime and dependent libraries. They can be
single-file or multi-file. Users of the application can run it on a machine that doesn't
have the .NET runtime installed. Self-contained apps always target a single operating
system and architecture configuration.
Framework-dependent apps require a compatible version of the .NET runtime, typically
installed globally. Framework-dependent apps can be published for a single operating
system and architecture configuration or as "portable," targeting all supported
configurations.

.NET apps are launched with a native executable, by default. The executable is both
operating-system and architecture-specific. Apps can also be launched with the dotnet
command.

Apps can be deployed in containers. Microsoft provides container images for various
target environments.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/introduction 7/9
25/10/23, 22:34 .NET (and .NET Core) - introduction and overview - .NET | Microsoft Learn

.NET history
In 2002, Microsoft released .NET Framework, a development platform for creating Windows
apps. Today .NET Framework is at version 4.8 and remains fully supported by Microsoft .

In 2014, Microsoft introduced .NET Core as a cross-platform, open-source successor to

.NET Framework. This new implementation of .NET kept the name .NET Core through
version 3.1. The next version after .NET Core 3.1 was named .NET 5.

New .NET versions continue to be released annually, each a major version number higher.
They include significant new features and often enable new scenarios.

.NET ecosystem
There are multiple variants of .NET, each supporting a different type of app. The reason for
multiple variants is part historical, part technical.

.NET implementations (historical order):

.NET Framework -- It provides access to the broad capabilities of Windows and

Windows Server. Also extensively used for Windows-based cloud computing. The
original .NET.
Mono -- A cross-platform implementation of .NET Framework. The original
community and open source .NET. Used for Android, iOS, and Wasm apps.
.NET (Core) -- A cross-platform and open source implementation of .NET, rethought
for the cloud age while remaining significantly compatible with .NET Framework. Used
for Linux, macOS, and Windows apps.

Next steps
Choose a .NET tutorial
Try .NET in your browser
Take a tour of C#
Take a tour of F#

６ Collaborate with us on
.NET feedback
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/introduction 8/9
25/10/23, 22:34 .NET (and .NET Core) - introduction and overview - .NET | Microsoft Learn

GitHub The .NET documentation is open

source. Provide feedback here.
The source for this content can
be found on GitHub, where you  Open a documentation issue
can also create and review issues
and pull requests. For more  Provide product feedback
information, see our contributor
guide.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/introduction 9/9