Introduction to .NET
.NET (dot NET) is a platform developed by Microsoft for developers to build all kinds of applications. It is a free, open-source, and cross-platform framework with tools and libraries for building any type of application – web, mobile, desktop, games, IoT, cloud, AI, microservices – you name it, on Android, Apple, Linux, and Windows.
A constantly evolving platform with a 20-year history now provides a powerful universe for creating and developing custom software. At Hicron Software House – a .NET software development company – we know .NET like no one else (maybe except Microsoft). Not a believer? On average 10-years of commercial experience and expertise with .NET is only part of what we can offer.
.NET software development and .NET software outsourcing
Today’s software development and software outsourcing differ from what we were dealing with some years ago. The software is developed for a variety of devices (desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones) and platforms (Windows, Linux, macOS). In addition to these popular, there are other players out there, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud platforms, gaming equipment, smart TVs, refrigerators as well as cars to name a few that rely on software.
Why .NET?
Precisely because of the universality of the .NET platform, that drove Microsoft’s ambition. The .NET platform was developed as a convenient and ultimate developer’s tool to build software applications for all devices and across platforms. Its popularity has been steadily growing among the community of developers and accelerated even more after the .NET 5 release in 2020, which revolutionized the profession by pioneering the idea of universal software development.
.NET is built on a high-performance runtime (more on that in the .NET runtime section below) that is used in production by many high-scale apps. But there are many arguments in favour of .NET software development, like platform independence, language support, easy deployment, scalability, modular architecture, simplified User Interface, higher performance, security, reliability, and compatibility. Before we jump into the details of .NET advantages and custom .NET software development services, it’s worth clearing up one confusion that has arisen around the naming of the .NET platform.
.NET platform (and the confusion around it)
You may encounter recurring names on the web: .NET Framework, .NET Core, Xamarin/Mono, .NET Standard and get slightly confused. All these belong to the .NET developer platform. Historically
- .NET Framework was the first Microsoft creation, released in 2002. To this day it is dedicated to software development (websites, apps, services) for Windows and remains fully supported by Microsoft.
- .NET Core was introduced to the world in 2014 (most likely, when referring to .NET, Core will be the one in mind). It is a cross-platform and open-source framework (or more precisely Integrated Development Environment) for Windows, Linux, and macOS. New versions of .NET are released every November. What is important the quality level, breaking change policies, and other aspects of each release are the same.
- Xamarin/Mono was founded in 2011, in 2016 it was acquired by Microsoft. Now Xamarin offers tools and libraries for building applications for Android, iOS, tvOS, watchOS, macOS, and Windows. It allows engineers to share up to 90 percent of code across major platforms. In mid-2022 .NET MAUI went into general availability. It is the official successor to Xamarin offering an even better developer experience for cross-platform application development.
- .NET Standard is a formal specification of the .NET APIs (API – Application Programming Interface – a software intermediary that allows two or more applications to communicate with each other) that are available in many .NET implementations. The rationale behind the .NET Standard was to establish greater uniformity in the .NET ecosystem and ease cross-platform development.
In a nutshell, the .NET platform features a set of developers’ tools, libraries, frameworks, and standards to productively write any kind of reliable, performant, secure, and platform-agnostic software. It aims to reduce development time while maintaining the highest standards of software security and fulfilling the business goals of organizations that rely on .NET ecosystem.
Several factors contribute to the platform’s popularity and ultimate success.