'What's the difference between .NET Core, .NET Framework, and Xamarin?
Microsoft now has .NET Core, .NET Framework and Xamarin (Mono) in its family.
It seems to be a lot of overlap here. What's the difference between these types of .NET Platforms? When should I choose to use .NET Core in my project, instead of .NET Framework or Xamarin?
Solution 1:[1]
This is how Microsoft explains it:
.NET Framework is the "full" or "traditional" flavor of .NET that's distributed with Windows. Use this when you are building a desktop Windows or UWP app, or working with older ASP.NET 4.6+.
.NET Core is cross-platform .NET that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Use this when you want to build console or web apps that can run on any platform, including inside Docker containers. This does not include UWP/desktop apps currently.
Xamarin is used for building mobile apps that can run on iOS, Android, or Windows Phone devices.
Xamarin usually runs on top of Mono, which is a version of .NET that was built for cross-platform support before Microsoft decided to officially go cross-platform with .NET Core. Like Xamarin, the Unity platform also runs on top of Mono.
A common point of confusion is where ASP.NET Core fits in. ASP.NET Core can run on top of either .NET Framework (Windows) or .NET Core (cross-platform), as detailed in this answer: Difference between ASP.NET Core (.NET Core) and ASP.NET Core (.NET Framework)
Solution 2:[2]
You can refer in this line - Difference between ASP.NET Core (.NET Core) and ASP.NET Core (.NET Framework)
Xamarin is not a debate at all. When you want to build mobile (iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile) apps using C#, Xamarin is your only choice.
The .NET Framework supports Windows and Web applications. Today, you can use Windows Forms, WPF, and UWP to build Windows applications in .NET Framework. ASP.NET MVC is used to build Web applications in .NET Framework.
.NET Core is the new open-source and cross-platform framework to build applications for all operating system including Windows, Mac, and Linux. .NET Core supports UWP and ASP.NET Core only. UWP is used to build Windows 10 targets Windows and mobile applications. ASP.NET Core is used to build browser based web applications.
you want more details refer this links
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2016/07/15/net-core-roadmap/
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/articles/standard/choosing-core-framework-server
Solution 3:[3]
- .NET is the Ecosystem based on c# language
- .NET Standard is Standard (in other words, specification) of .NET Ecosystem .
.Net Core Class Library is built upon the .Net Standard. .NET Standard you can make only class-library project that cannot be executed standalone and should be referenced by another .NET Core or .NET Framework executable project.If you want to implement a library that is portable to the .Net Framework, .Net Core and Xamarin, choose a .Net Standard Library
- .NET Framework is a framework based on .NET and it supports Windows and Web applications
(You can make executable project (like Console application, or ASP.NET application) with .NET Framework
- ASP.NET is a web application development technology which is built over the .NET Framework
- .NET Core also a framework based on .NET.
It is the new open-source and cross-platform framework to build applications for all operating system including Windows, Mac, and Linux.
- Xamarin is a framework to develop a cross platform mobile application(iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile) using C#
Implementation support of .NET Standard[blue] and minimum viable platform for full support of .NET Standard (latest: [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/net-standard#net-implementation-support])
Solution 4:[4]
.NET 5 will be a unified version of all .NET variants coming in November 2020, so there will be no need to choose between variants anymore.
Solution 5:[5]
- .NET Framework - Windows only legacy implementation by Microsoft of .NET. Introduced in 2002, being phased out.
- .NET 5 (successor to .NET Core 3.1) - modern reimplementation of .NET Framework aimed at replacing it, supports Windows, macOS and Linux. Introduced in 2016, further version might absorb Xamarin
- Xamarin - Mono with platform bindings to non-windows OS's and APIs and tools tailored to mobile app development (iOS, Android and recently desktop). Introduced in 2012. Mono is a non Microsoft implementation of .NET developed by community and introduced in early 2000s and competing with .NET Framework.
Solution 6:[6]
.NET Core is the current version of .NET that you should be using right now (more features , fixed bugs , etc.)
Xamarin is a platform that provides solutions for cross platform mobile problems coded in C# , so that you don't need to use Swift separately for IOS and the same goes for Android.
Solution 7:[7]
[As of February 2022]
.NET Framework
- Proprietary framework
- Primarily for Windows OS
- Version 4.8 was its final version.
- Support for it will probably end with that of Windows 10 (and it's other server siblings )
.NET (previously .NET Core)
- Free and open-source
- Cross-platform
- Successor to .NET Framework
- Currently .NET 6 is the LTS version
Xamarin
- Free and open-source
- For building Android and iOS apps with .NET and C#
- Part of .NET
Solution 8:[8]
Xamarin is used for phone applications (both IOS/Android). The .NET Core is used for designing Web applications that can work on both Apache and IIS.
That is the difference in two sentences.
Solution 9:[9]
.Net Framework (latest version 4.8) supports only windows platform.Means your desktop application will work only on Windows. And web application can only be hosted on Windows Server/Windows OS
.Net Core (starting from .net core 1, 2 , 2.1 , 3.1 , Latest version 5) are cross platform.(windows , Linux , Mac).
Xamarin on the other hand supports Mobile Platform. (Android and IOS).For developing mobile apps.
Solution 10:[10]
.Net Frame work is used for windows base Applications. .Net Core Frame work is used for Cross Platform base Applications. Xamarin Frame work is used for Mobile's Applications Development.
Sources
This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Source: Stack Overflow