I was recently part of a conversation thread online, which reinforced the naming confusion that exists around the .NET (dotnet) ecosystem. I thought I’d summarize my responses to that thread, as it surely can be confusing to a newcomer, or even someone who blinked and missed a bit of time, as things change fast.
The linked post doesn’t seem like that good of a reference that I would put it in the sidebar. IMO it could be done better. But if you mean to say, something like it; yeah, the .NET environment is vast and can be confusing, especially when new to it. An overview or reference to one makes sense.
Before around net7, the open source cross platform non-framework dotnet was called Core. net6/7/8 is the .NET Core technology, but Core was dropped from the naming.
Now, .NET may refer to that modern dotnet tech, or .NET Framework. Presumably, the latter is referred to only in contexts where it’s obvious that .NET Framework is meant.
.NET Standard is still relevant for libraries that target/publish for both .NET Framework and net6+. .NET Standard is the cross-platform baseline.
@Kissaki @SmartmanApps More accurately, #netstandard is the bridge between #netfx and #dotnet. It was a cross-platform thing when #xamarin and #uwp were viable, but today it is really just a migration bridge.
We use it a lot in #cslanet for example, because we support everything from #netfx 4.6.2 onwards.
For most mainstream developers though, this is all just background noise.
Yeah it was prompted by someone on Mastodon asking about it, and Rocky saw it. I saw the reply too, and thought it was still a little vague, then a few days later this blog post turns up :-)
BTW if anyone wants to follow him he’s Rocky Lhotka. He’s on Pixelfed too (and Bluesky), but not as much work stuff on his Pixelfed account.