This article tutorial gives a brief introduction to ASP.NET Core. The ASP.NET Core is new Framework built with aim of cross-platform portability.
Table of Contents
What is ASP.NET Core
ASP.NET Core is a collection of libraries that form a Framework for building web applications.
ASP.NET Core is not the next version of the ASP.NET. It is the brand new version written from scratch. It has a number of architectural changes that result in a much leaner and modular framework.
ASP.NET Core can run on both .NET Core or full .NET Framework.
What is .Net Core
The .NET Core is a runtime. It is a complete redesign of .NET Framework. The main design goal of the .NET Core is to support developing cross-platform .NET applications. It is supported on Windows, Mac OS & Linux. .NET Core is an Open Source Framework maintained by Microsoft and the .NET community on GitHub
The .NET Core is a subset of Full .NET Framework. WebForms, Windows Forms, WPF are not part of the .NET Core
It implements .NET Standard specification.
What is .NET Standard
The .NET Standard is a formal specification of .NET APIs that are intended to be available on all .NET implementations. It defines a uniform set of rules that need to be followed across all .NET implementations
You can read more about .NET Standard from here
Difference between .NET Core Vs .NET Framework
.NET Framework is older runtime which existed in windows for many years. The .NET Core supports the subset of features supported by the .NET Framework. The features like WebForms, Windows Forms, WPF are unlikely to make into the .NET Core
.Net Framework Only runs on windows. .NET Core applications can run on any platform
ASP.NET Core
The Core word in ASP.NET core is very misleading
The name suggests that the ASP.NET Core applications can only be built on .NET Core, which is wrong.
ASP.NET Core web application can be developed using .NET Core or .NET Framework. The ASP.NET Core application built using the .NET Core runtime can run on any OS, while those built using .NET Framework can run only in Windows
Important Features of ASP.NET Core
- You can build and run cross-platform ASP.NET apps on Windows, Mac and Linux (Open source and community focused
- ASP.NET Core Unifies MVC & Web API.
- Ability to host on IIS or self-host in your own process.
- Built-in Dependency Injection.
- Easy integration with client-side frameworks like Angular, Knockout etc.
- An Environment based configuration system.
- New light-weight and modular HTTP request pipeline.
- Built on .NET Core, which supports true side-by-side app versioning.
- Ships entirely as NuGet packages.
Flavours of ASP.NET
There are two flavours of ASP.NET present now
- ASP.NET
This is the current version of ASP.NET. It needs .Net Framework to run. The Latest version is 4.6 - ASP.NET Core.
The new way to build the Web application. It can run on both .NET Framework or .NET Core Framework. The current version is 2.0
Important difference Between ASP.NET and ASP.NET Core
| ASP.NET | ASP.NET Core |
|---|---|
| Current Version 4.6 | Current Version 2.0 |
| Legacy version | The complete redesigned version of ASP.NET |
| Runs on Dot Net Framework | Runs on both Dot Net Core/Dot Net Framework |
| Runs Only on Windows | Runs on all Platforms if you are using Dot Net Core |
| Stable version with Rich Features. | Â Not All the Features are not available. But it is expected to be added in the future releases |
| WebForms are supported | WebForms will not be supported |
| Bulky. System.web.dll | Smaller, leaner and Modular |
| Proprietary to Microsoft | ASP.NET Core is Open Source |
What happened to ASP.NET 5
ASP.NET core was originally named as ASP.NET vNext
Later it was changed to ASP.NET 5.
Finally, Microsoft named it as ASP.NET Core when the 1.0 was released
ASP.NET Core Roadmap
You can read about NET Core Roadmap