In this article, we will look into the Evolution of the .NET framework to .NET Core year by year.
Dot Net or ASP.NET is a framework given by Microsoft for building desktop, mobile and web-based applications. It gives runtime, libraries, tooling and structures that empower you to develop any applications that you need. Contingent upon the .NET runtime you are utilizing, you will actually want to assemble and deploy various kinds of software for various platforms.
.NET Framework supports C#, Visual Basic and F# as programming languages to build and develop software applications.
The initial release was called .Net framework 1.0. The .Net framework has progressed significantly from that point forward, and the current version is 4.8.
After .NET 4.8 which was released in the year 2019, Microsoft is moving towards open-source technology and introduced .NET Core which is a platform-independent technology to develop web, desktop and mobile applications. Till this article was written, the latest stable version is .NET 6 which was released on 8th November 2021.
What is the full form of ASP.Net?
Full form of ASP.NET is Active Server Pages Network Enabled Technologies.
.NET Framework Evolution Year by Year
The below table depicts the history of the .NET Framework.
| Year | .NET Version | CLR Version | Visual Studio | Features and Enhancements |
| 2002 | 1.0 | 1.0 | Visual Studio .NET 2002 | Initial release – OOP support for Web development. |
| 2003 | 1.1 | 1.1 | Visual Studio .NET 2003 | Added support for ADO.NET classes for Oracle database and ODBC database connectivity. |
| 2005 | 2.0 | 2.0 | Visual Studio 2005 | New CLR 2.0, Enhancement of ASP.NET & ADO.NET, Generics Types, Partial Types, Anonymous methods, Nullable Types. |
| 2006 | 3.0 | 2.0 | Visual Studio 2005 | Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF) were introduced. |
| 2007 | 3.5 | 2.0 | Visual Studio 2008 | Build-in-Support for AJAX, Language Integrated Query (LINQ). |
| 2010 | 4.0 | 4.0 | Visual Studio 2010 | New CLR 4.0, Task Parallel Library (TPL), Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF), Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) were introduced in this release. |
| 2012 | 4.5 | 4.0 | Visual Studio 2012 | Support for Windows Store, enhancements of WPF, WCF, WF, MEF, and ASP.NET. |
| 2013 | 4.5.1 | 4.0 | Visual Studio 2013 | Performance and debugging improvements. |
| 2014 | 4.5.2 | 4.0 | Visual Studio 2013 | ASP.NET APIs enhancements, New Workflow features and Debugging improvements features were added in this release. |
| 2015 | 4.6 | 4.0 | Visual Studio 2015 | New 64-bit JIT compiler, Assembly Loader improvements, enhancements to Garbage Collector. |
| 2017 | 4.7 | 4.0 | Visual Studio 2017 | High DPI support for Windows Forms controls, Touch support for WPF in Windows 10, Enhanced cryptography support, performance, and reliability improvements. |
| 2019 | 4.8 | 4.0 | Visual Studio 2019 | JIT improvements, Malware scanning for Assemblies and Accessibility Enhancements |
.NET Core Older Version History
| Version | Original Release Date | Latest Patch Version | Patch Release Date | End of Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .NET Core 3.0 | September 23, 2019 | 3.0.3 | February 18, 2020 | March 3, 2020 |
| .NET Core 2.2 | December 4, 2018 | 2.2.8 | November 19, 2019 | December 23, 2019 |
| .NET Core 2.1 | May 30, 2018 | 2.1.30 | August 19, 2021 | August 21, 2021 |
| .NET Core 2.0 | August 14, 2017 | 2.0.9 | July 10, 2018 | October 1, 2018 |
| .NET Core 1.1 | November 16, 2016 | 1.1.13 | May 14, 2019 | June 27 2019 |
| .NET Core 1.0 | June 27, 2016 | 1.0.16 | May 14, 2019 | June 27 2019 |
.NET Core Supported and Latest versions
| Version | Original Release Date | Latest Patch Version | Patch Release Date | Support Level | End of Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .NET 6 | November 08, 2021 | 6.0.0 | November 08, 2021 | LTS | November 08, 2024 |
| .NET 5 | November 10, 2020 | 5.0.12 | November 08, 2021 | Current | May 08, 2022 |
| .NET Core 3.1 | December 3, 2019 | 3.1.21 | November 08, 2021 | LTS | December 3, 2022 |
As a .NET developer, we all know that C# is the primary and majorly used programming language. Let’s know the history of C# along with the .NET Framework.
C# Version History
| Version | .NET Framework | Visual Studio | Features Added |
|---|---|---|---|
| C# 1.0 | .NET Framework 1.0/1.1 | Visual Studio .NET 2002 | The first release of C# |
| C# 2.0 | .NET Framework 2.0 | Visual Studio 2005 | Generics Partial types, Anonymous methods, Nullable types |
| C# 3.0 | .NET Framework 3.0\3.5 | Visual Studio 2008 | Auto-implemented properties, Anonymous types, Lambda expression |
| C# 4.0 | .NET Framework 4.0 | Visual Studio 2010 | Dynamic binding, Named/optional arguments, Generic covariant |
| C# 5.0 | .NET Framework 4.5 | Visual Studio 2012/2013 | Asynchronous members, Caller info attributes |
| C# 6.0 | .NET Framework 4.6 | Visual Studio 2013/2015 | Static imports, Exception filters, Property initializers, Dictionary initializers |
| C# 7.0 | .NET Core | Visual Studio 2017 | Improved performance and productivity Azure Support, AI Support, Game development, Cross-platform, Mobile App Development |
| C# 8.0 | .NET Core | Visual Studio 2019 | Default interface methods, Static local function, Pattern Matching enhancements. |
| C# 9.0 | .NET 5 | Latest Visual Studio 2019 | Top-level statements, Init only setters, Records |
| C# 10 | .NET 6 | Visual Studio 2022 | Record Struct, nested property, Global using directives |
Hope you like this article which represented the evolution of the .NET Framework to Dot NET Core (.NET Core) including Framework history, Dot Net Core history and C# Version history.
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