Side-by-side versioning:

Multiple versions of .NET Core can be installed on the same machine without conflicts. This makes it easy to update apps between major versions.

Backward compatibility:

.NET Core emphasizes backward compatibility between major versions when possible. Apps generally require a few code changes when upgrading.

Lightweight and modular:

The Dot NET Core runtime and libraries are packaged in NuGet packages. Apps include only what they need, keeping them lightweight.

Modern web capabilities:

Build web APIs with ASP.NET Core. Use Razor Pages, MVC, gRPC services, SignalR real-time communication, and more.

Enterprise capabilities:

Integrate with databases like SQL Server, Postgres, MySQL, etc. Implement authentication, authorization, caching, background jobs, messaging, and more.

.NET Core Versions

The major versions of .NET Core are:

• .NET Core 1.0: The initial release was in June 2016. The next version in this series was .NET Core 1.1.
• .NET Core 2.0: Released August 2017 with expanded APIs and significant performance gains. Next versions were .NET Core 2.1 and .NET Core 2.2.
• .NET Core 3.0: Released September 2019 and adds support for Windows desktop application development. After this, .NET Core 3.1 came with LTS (Long Term Support)
• .NET 5: .Net Core was renamed to .NET. It was released on November 10, 2020.
• .NET 6: Released November 2021 with C# 10, minimal APIs (which allows developers to create HTTP APIs with minimal setup.), and hot reload support (allowing developers to make code changes that can be seen immediately without needing to restart the application.). The current long-term support (LTS) version.
• .NET 7: The latest release from November 2022 with incremental improvements over .NET 6.
• .NET 8: The next major release is planned for November 2023.

The current recommendation is to use the latest LTS release, which is .NET 6 at the time of writing. .NET 7 and beyond bring new features and lower deployment sizes, so upgrading is recommended when possible.

Microsoft guarantees long-term support including security and bug fixes for LTS releases like .NET 6. The latest releases get shorter-term support. Unsupported versions like .NET Core 3.1 should be upgraded.

Running .NET Core Apps

When building apps with Dot NET Core, you need the .NET Core SDK installed on your development machine for compilation.

The published apps then require the corresponding .NET Core runtime installed on the deployment server to run. The runtime is much smaller than the full SDK.

On Windows, the .NET Core SDK and runtime can be installed with the .NET installer. On Linux or macOS, use the package manager for the distro like apt-get or homebrew.

For container deployments, the Docker image should contain the correct .NET Core runtime version.

A common deployment error is HTTP Error 500.31 - Failed to load ASP.NET Core runtime, meaning the expected runtime version is missing on the server.

.NET Core vs .NET Framework

The original .NET Framework released in 2002 was limited to Windows only. .NET Core introduced cross-platform capabilities to .NET.

The .NET Framework is only officially supported by Microsoft. .NET Core is open source and accepts contributions from the community.

Dot NET Core emphasizes modularity over a monolithic framework. Apps include only the libraries needed.

The .NET Framework has a large API surface area. .NET Core started with a smaller set of core APIs and expanded over time.

Getting Started with .NET Core

It's easy to get started building web applications with Dot NET Core. Here are Some quick steps:

• Install the .NET Core SDK on your development machine. Visit the official .NET Core Download page.
• Optionally install an IDE like Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code.
• Create a new ASP.NET Core project and select your starting template - Web API, MVC, Razor Pages, etc.
• The project template sets up a sample application. Modify the code to build out your app.
• Run the app locally using dotnet run.
• Publish the application to deploy it to production.

There are many online tutorials and documentation resources for learning .NET Core. The ASP.NET Core documentation is a great reference for web development.

To get started building your first web APIs and web apps on .NET Core, check out Microsoft's .NET site for guided tutorials.

You can use our free hosting service for ASP.NET Core to deploy your project without any costs. Here you can quickly and easily deploy your application without worrying about infrastructure or maintenance.

Summary

.NET Core brings .NET cross-platform and open source while retaining enterprise capabilities. It is a modern, efficient, high-performance framework for building web applications, APIs, microservices, and more.

With support across Windows, Linux, and macOS you can deploy on any cloud platform. It has an active open-source community on GitHub.

If you are looking to build new .NET apps, .NET Core is typically recommended over the .NET Framework unless you have specific needs like desktop apps on Windows.

Get started with .NET Core today and see how it can make you more productive!