Pseudorandom Knowledge

What’s with .NET nowadays?

I was a bit confused about the current state of .NET. So I put together this very simplified overview.

.NET Standard
The formal specification for .NET. Specifies a minimal set of APIs for a .NET implementation.

.NET Framework
The old .NET implementation from Microsoft. Proprietary license. For Windows only.

Mono (Xamarin)
A third party implementation of .NET. Open source. Cross-platform.

.NET Core
The new .NET implementation from Microsoft. Open source. Cross-platform.

ASP.NET
The old set of web frameworks for .NET. Open source. Runs on .NET Framework and Mono.

ASP.NET Core
The new set of web frameworks for .NET. Open source. Runs on .NET Framework and .NET Core.

Windows Forms
The old technology for desktop applications for Windows. Runs on .NET Framework.

Windows Presentation Foundation
The newer technology for desktop applications for Windows. Runs on .NET Framework.

Universal Windows Platform
The newest technology for applications for Windows and Windows Phone. Runs on .NET Framework and .NET Core.

Visual Studio
The IDE for .NET development. Proprietary license. For Windows only.

Visual Studio Code
An editor for .NET development. Open source. Cross-platform.