Introduction to ASP.

NET Core Framework

Nowadays, when it comes to software development, everyone is talking about Free, Open-Source,
and Cross-Platform Development. As we all know Microsoft is well known for its Windows-Based
Products. Now we are in the new age of software development. For this, a new revolutionary product
came into the market by Microsoft and it is ASP.NET Core or .NET.

History of ASP.NET Core

ASP.NET was the go-to framework for building data-driven web applications for years. Since then, the
ASP.NET Framework went through a steady evolutionary change, and finally, the most decent
evolution is ASP.NET Core (you can also call it .NET).

However, ASP.NET Core is not a continuation of the ASP.NET Framework but rather a complete
redesign. It represents a significant shift, introducing a more modular, cross-platform framework that
can be used to build modern, cloud-based applications.
● ASP.NET Core is not just a continuation of ASP.NET but rather a completely new framework.
It’s a rewrite, with a more modular design and support for cross-platform development.
● It retains some familiar concepts but introduces fundamental changes, especially in how it
handles performance, deployment, and modularity.

What is ASP.NET Core?

ASP.NET Core is a Cross-Platform, Open-Source, High-Performance framework used for
building modern, cloud-based, and internet-connected applications that run on Windows,
Linux, macOS, and Docker. According to Microsoft:
● ASP.NET Core is the modern, high-performance web development framework for .NET,
that runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, and Docker.
● ASP.NET is a popular web-development framework for building web apps on the .NET
platform.
● ASP.NET Core is the open-source version of ASP.NET, that runs on macOS, Linux, and
Windows. ASP.NET Core was first released in 2016 and is a re-design of earlier
Windows-only versions of ASP.NET.

For more information, visit the official ASP.NET Core page:

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/aspnet/what-is-aspnet-core

Why ASP.NET Core?

Nowadays, the ASP.NET Core framework is becoming more and more popular among developers.
There are a number of reasons why developers are using it, and some of them are listed below:

High Performance:
ASP.NET Core is optimized for high performance. Its modular architecture allows developers to
include only necessary dependencies, resulting in faster and more efficient applications. Benchmarks
demonstrate that applications developed with ASP.NET Core are significantly faster than those built
with previous versions of ASP.NET and is ideal for high-traffic, cloud-native applications. For a better
understanding, please look at the following image which is provided in the Official Microsoft Site:

Trainer: Pranaya Kumar Rout Website: https://dotnettutorials.net/

Open Source
ASP.NET Core framework is open-source, which is the main reason for its popularity. The entire
source code for ASP.NET Core Framework is available on GitHub at
https://github.com/dotnet/aspnetcore, and allowing developers to:
● Download and inspect the source code.
● Modify and customize it as needed.
● Contribute to its development, benefiting from a huge community with over 100,000
contributions from more than 3,700 companies.

All aspects of .NET are open source including class libraries, runtime, compilers, languages,
ASP.NET Core web framework, Windows desktop frameworks, and Entity Framework Core data
access library, and more.

The ASP.NET Core team is always there to support your effort in developing the application. It
receives bug fixing and improvement updates on a regular basis, usually within a short time period.
You don’t have to wait longer for updates.

For more information, visit the official ASP.NET Core page:

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/platform/open-source

Cross-Platform:
The ASP.NET Core Framework is designed from scratch to be Cross-Platform, meaning ASP.NET
apps can be developed and run on Windows, Linux, macOS, and Docker. This means we can build
applications that run across different operating systems without needing to build different applications
for different platforms using different frameworks.

Comparison with Traditional ASP.NET Framework, the earlier versions of ASP.NET Framework
applications can only run on Windows platforms. On the other hand, the ASP.NET Core applications
can be developed and run on different platforms such as Windows, Mac, or Linux operating systems.
We can host the earlier ASP.NET Framework applications only on IIS, whereas we can host the
ASP.NET Core applications on IIS, Nginx, Apache, or within Docker containers.

Lightweight and Modular:

The framework is built to be modular which allows developers to include only the necessary libraries
they need. This reduces the application's overall size and improves performance. Dependencies are
managed via NuGet packages, making it easy to add or remove features.

Built-in Dependency Injection:

ASP.NET Core includes a built-in dependency injection (DI) container. This feature simplifying the
management of service lifetimes and dependencies, which leads to more maintainable and testable
code.

Cloud-Ready:
ASP.NET Core is designed with cloud deployment in mind. It provides configuration features that
simplify deploying and scaling applications in cloud environments like Microsoft Azure.

.NET Core Support Policy and Release Lifecycle:

The latest stable version of .NET Core is .NET 8, released in November 2023. Starting with .NET 5,
the term "Core" was removed, and it is now simply called .NET (e.g., .NET 6, .NET 7, .NET 8).
Microsoft releases new major versions every year in November, alternating between Long-Term
Support (LTS) and Short-Term Support (STS) releases:
● Long-Term Support (LTS) Releases: Even-numbered releases (e.g., .NET 6, .NET 8) are
designated as LTS releases, receiving support and patches for three years, making them
ideal for production environments.
● Standard-Term Support (STS) Releases: Odd-numbered releases (e.g., .NET 5, .NET 7)
receive support and patches for 18 months, suitable for projects that can adopt newer
versions more frequently.

For a better understanding, please have a look at the following image:

Trainer: Pranaya Kumar Rout Website: https://dotnettutorials.net/

Note: Customers can choose Long Term Support (LTS) releases or Standard Term Support (STS)
releases. The quality of all releases is the same. The only difference is the length of support. LTS
releases get free support and patches for 3 years. STS releases get free support and patches for 18
months.

For more information, visit the official ASP.NET Core page:

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/platform/support/policy/dotnet-core

What the ASP.NET Core Doesn’t Have?

If you are familiar with ASP.NET, here are some features that are no longer part of ASP.NET Core:
● Global.asax File: Replaced by Program.cs file, which is used to configure the application's
startup process.
● Web.config File: Configuration is now handled using appsettings.json, appsettings.
{Environment}.json, environment variables, and other configuration providers.
● HTTP Handlers and HTTP Modules: Replaced by Middleware Components in the
ASP.NET Core request pipeline.

Differences Between .NET Framework vs .NET Core Framework

The following are the Differences Between .NET Framework and .NET Core

.NET Framework
● Platform: Designed exclusively for Windows.
● Architecture: Monolithic, including all features by default, leading to larger applications.
● Performance: Does not match the performance optimizations of .NET Core due to its older
architecture.
● Support and Development: In maintenance mode with Microsoft primarily releasing security
updates and critical fixes; no new features are being added.
● Open Source: It is not open source.
● Use Cases: Ideal for applications tightly integrated with the Windows ecosystem, such as
desktop applications, or for maintaining large existing applications built on the .NET
Framework.

.NET Core
● Platform: Cross-Platform, running on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
● Architecture: Modular, allowing developers to include only necessary packages via NuGet,
resulting in lighter and more efficient applications.
● Performance: Optimized for high performance and scalability.
● Support and Development: Actively developed with regular additions of new features,
performance improvements, and enhancements.
● Open Source: It is open source and hosted on GitHub with over 100,000 contributions from
more than 3,700 companies.
● Use Cases: Perfect for building modern web applications, microservices, and applications
requiring cross-platform functionality.

Trainer: Pranaya Kumar Rout Website: https://dotnettutorials.net/

.NET Core (.NET) vs ASP.NET Core:
Many people are confused between ASP.NET Core and .NET Core. Please note that ASP.NET Core
and .NET Core are not the same. They are different, just like ASP.NET and .NET Framework are
different.

ASP.NET Core is a web framework for building web applications, services, and APIs. .NET Core is
the runtime that supports running ASP.NET Core applications. It is also the foundation for other types
of applications like console, desktop, and mobile apps (through .NET MAUI). So, .NET Core provides
the runtime environment, while ASP.NET Core is the web application framework that runs on it. For a
better understanding, please have a look at the following diagram:

.NET Core (.NET):

● .NET Core (.NET) is the cross-platform software. It provides the Runtime Environment where
the ASP.NET Core Web Applications will run.
● Install .NET Core Runtime to run applications and install .NET Core SDK to build
applications.
● .NET 8 is the latest stable version.

ASP.NET Core:
● ASP.NET Core is an Open-Source, Cross-Platform Framework using which we can develop
different types of Web Applications, such as MVC, Web API, Razor Pages, etc.
● If you want to develop and run .NET Core Applications, you need to install the .NET Core
SDK, which will automatically install the .NET Runtime. If you only want to run .NET Core
Applications, you only need to install the .NET Core Runtime.
● ASP.NET Core 8 is the latest stable version.

Note: There is no separate versioning for ASP.NET Core; it is the same as the other .NET Core
versions.

Trainer: Pranaya Kumar Rout Website: https://dotnettutorials.net/