.NET Version Evolution Guide
Table of contents
- .NET Framework Era (2002--2019)
- .NET Core Era (2016--2019)
- .NET Unified Platform (2020--Present)
- Key Milestones Timeline
.NET Framework Era (2002--2019)
.NET Framework 1.0 (2002)
Foundation Release -- The beginning of managed code revolution
- CLR (Common Language Runtime)
- Base Class Library (BCL)
- C# and VB.NET support
- Windows Forms
- ASP.NET Web Forms
- ADO.NET
.NET Framework 1.1 (2003)
Mobile and Connectivity Enhancements
- Mobile ASP.NET controls
- IPv6 support
- ODBC .NET Data Provider
- Security enhancements
.NET Framework 2.0 (2005)
Generics Revolution -- Major language advancement
- Generics
- Partial classes
- Nullable types
- Anonymous methods
- Master pages in ASP.NET
- ClickOnce deployment
.NET Framework 3.0 (2006)
Rich Client Platform
- WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation)
- WCF (Windows Communication Foundation)
- WF (Windows Workflow Foundation)
- CardSpace
.NET Framework 3.5 (2007)
LINQ Era -- Query revolution
- LINQ
- Lambda expressions
- Extension methods
- ASP.NET AJAX
- PLINQ
.NET Framework 4.0 (2010)
Dynamic and Parallel Computing
- DLR (Dynamic Language Runtime)
- TPL (Task Parallel Library)
- Named/optional parameters
- Dynamic keyword
- ASP.NET MVC
.NET Framework 4.5 (2012)
Async Revolution
- async/await
- Portable Class Libraries
- ASP.NET Web API
- Entity Framework 5
.NET Framework 4.6--4.8 (2015--2019)
- C# 6.0--7.0 support
- JIT and runtime performance
- WPF, WinForms improvements
- High DPI/touch support
- Accessibility and final optimizations
.NET Core Era (2016--2019)
.NET Core 1.x
- Cross-platform (Windows/Linux/macOS)
- Open-source, modular
- ASP.NET Core
- EF Core
- .NET Standard support
.NET Core 2.x
- Major API expansion
- Razor Pages
- Span
/Memory - SignalR
- Health checks
.NET Core 3.x
- WPF & WinForms (Windows-only)
- Blazor Server
- Worker Services
- C# 8.0
- LTS with .NET Core 3.1
.NET Unified Platform (2020--Present)
.NET 5.0 (2020)
- Unified SDK (Core + Framework + Xamarin)
- C# 9.0
- Single-file apps
- Blazor WebAssembly production ready
.NET 6.0 (2021) -- LTS
- Minimal APIs
- Hot Reload
- MAUI
- C# 10
.NET 7.0 (2022)
- C# 11
- Rate Limiting
- Native AOT enhancements
.NET 8.0 (2023) -- LTS
- C# 12
- Streaming Blazor rendering
- Identity APIs
- Keyed DI Services
.NET 9.0 (2024)
- C# 13
- LINQ improvements
- Serialization enhancements
- Cloud-native support
Key milestones timeline
2002 - .NET Framework 1.0 (Foundation)
2005 - .NET Framework 2.0 (Generics)
2007 - .NET Framework 3.5 (LINQ)
2012 - .NET Framework 4.5 (async/await)
2016 - .NET Core 1.0 (Cross-platform)
2019 - .NET Core 3.1 (LTS)
2020 - .NET 5.0 (Unified)
2021 - .NET 6.0 (LTS, MAUI)
2022 - .NET 7.0 (Performance)
2023 - .NET 8.0 (LTS, Blazor Native AOT)
2024 - .NET 9.0 (Latest)
Legend
- Major Milestone
- Performance
- Language Feature
- Web Tech
- Desktop
- Mobile/Cross-platform
- Security
- Deployment
- Dev Tools
Note: LTS versions are supported for 3 years, non-LTS are supported for 18 months after the next release.