The truth that this variety of languages can coexist inside .NET is likely one of the platform’s strengths. As a result of the code all will get compiled to CIL bytecode, it doesn’t matter which language you utilize to write down your functions. You might be free to resolve based mostly in your preferences, the strengths and weaknesses of every language, or the completely different elements of .NET you may entry based mostly on the language you utilize (these differ). Whereas most of .NET’s base class library was written in C#, you may entry these courses from code written in different CLI languages. Parts written in several CLI languages can freely interoperate throughout a .NET utility.
.NET historical past
To this point, I’ve used “.NET” as a generic time period to discuss with the platform, however the .NET ecosystem is definitely a bit extra advanced. As a result of .NET is an open normal, anybody may doubtlessly implement their very own model of it. For a lot of the platform’s historical past, Microsoft’s model was known as the .NET Framework. One other well-known implementation was Mono, launched in 2001. Mono was an open supply implementation for working .NET functions on Linux, and was controversial on the time as a consequence of dangerous blood between Microsoft and the open supply neighborhood. Later, Mono fashioned the premise of the Xamarin platform, which made it attainable to construct .NET functions for iOS, Android, and macOS in addition to Linux. Xamarin started life because the brainchild of Mono’s founders, however the firm they based to assist the venture was in the end acquired by Microsoft.
By 2014, Microsoft and the developer neighborhood have been seeking to consolidate their efforts into a .NET implementation rebuilt from the bottom up. The outcome was what was initially known as .NET Core, a cross-platform implementation of the .NET normal that shed among the cruft that had accrued through the years and was launched as open supply in 2016. Initially, it lacked the complete vary of options accessible within the .NET Framework, and so the .NET Framework, .NET Core, and Xamarin all coexisted, which understandably prompted some confusion. In 2017, InfoWorld columnist Simon Bisson grappled with the query of which implementation must be used during which contexts.
