The .NET platform has been on the market for over 20 years and has gained a significant following among software engineers and businesses. It consistently ranks as the top choice for creating various types of solutions due to its fast coding speed, streamlined program execution, and high quality and reliability when compared to the competition. That's why the demand for .NET software development does not decrease in the course of time.
The Basics of .NET Software Development
.NET is an open-source, cross-platform framework by Microsoft that has been widely adopted by software engineers around the world. If the initial implementation of .NET aimed at Windows apps only, today this is a versatile ecosystem offering an impressive set of tools and libraries for building all types of software products for Windows, macOS, and Linux. With the surging demand for mobile applications, the platform has also evolved to offer mobile app development solutions with the help of Xamarin, and later .NET MAUI.
Let's list the core features that distinguish .NET among other tools:
Command-line interface (CLI) - a specification that provides a platform for running applications written in different programming languages on different platforms. It includes a virtual execution system, a set of common types, a bytecode language, and a set of rules for language compatibility.
Common language runtime (CLR) - an environment that manages memory allocation, security, and other aspects of code execution.
Class Library - a rich set of libraries and tools providing thousands of reusable code components for quick and efficient programming.
NuGet - a powerful manager for producing and consuming packages.
C#, F#, and Visual Basic - programming languages that can be used. It should be noted that C# is a rich language that continues to evolve rapidly, with C# 11 currently available.
Visual Studio (Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio for Mac) - the main development environment.
.NET Standard - the approach of unification through a common set of APIs. However, with the release of .NET 5, it has become outdated.
.NET 5, .NET 6, .NET 7 - updated versions of the platform that provide a more unified approach to software creation, i.e., the ability to develop web, desktop, mobile, gaming, IoT, cloud, AI apps from a single platform. Released from 2020 to 2022.
Benefits
Being a mature and highly developed ecosystem, .NET offers numerous perks to developers and businesses. Here are some of them:
A huge number of out-of-the-box features and integrations that other platforms lack.
New SDK and runtime versions are released regularly and contain almost no incompatible changes, ensuring smooth updating.
The entry threshold for newbies is not very high.
In 99% of cases, you can find a ready-made library for the desired task.
The platform successfully finds the golden mean between code security and speed. In most cases, you don't have to worry about memory consumption or the intricacies of interacting with OS.
The platform's high popularity and applications across all business areas allow you to always find a project to your taste.
Overall, .NET combines the ease of coding with out-of-the-box tools that allow any developer to quickly and reliably write, test, and deploy apps.
Xamarin and MAUI for Mobile App Development
Today, the world of mobile software products is divided between several major operating systems - Android, iOS, and Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile. About a decade ago, business owners who needed mobile applications could select one of two options:
Settle for developing an application for only one platform, losing a chunk of audience with mobile devices running other operating systems.
Create one app for each platform. For example, Java for mobile app development was the most popular choice for Android devices, and Swift - for iOS ones. Assembling the Java and the Swift teams, managing two projects, and paying separately for two products ultimately resulted in extremely high expenses.
Fortunately, cross-platform solutions came to the rescue, and Xamarin became the leading tool in this niche.
As part of the .NET ecosystem, Xamarin is an open-source platform that allows developers to create native mobile apps for two or more platforms at once from a single codebase. Xamarin uses C# and offers a rich set of libraries and tools to efficiently build high-performance solutions.
Xamarin advantages:
Code reusability - you can write a single codebase and reuse it across multiple platforms with slight adjustments, thereby reducing development time and costs.
Native performance - you can quickly create several apps that have a native look and feel, and deliver seamless digital experience to your customers.
Access to device-specific features - in your apps, you can easily leverage the capabilities of unique device features such as accelerometer, camera, and GPS and with the help of Xamarin.
Some examples of apps developed using Xamarin include Alaska Airlines, Olo, and FreshDirect.
However, Microsoft engineers did not stop there and in 2022 released MAUI (Multi-platform App UI) - an advanced product built on top of Xamarin for creating mobile apps. MAUI offers several advantages over Xamarin, including:
A new rendering engine that offers reduced memory consumption, hence better performance.
A unified project structure for all .NET runtime libraries and platforms.
An advanced user interface toolkit that simplifies the development process and provides software engineers with a more consistent experience across platforms.
Support for BCL integration.
The ability to use the .NET command-line interface (CLI).
A handler-based approach to application development.
Additionally, MAUI comes with graphics functionality that lets designers draw elements on the in-built canvas, providing more control over the UI design.
.NET and Security
The .NET ecosystem provides several security features to help developers create reliable applications.
Code Access Security (CAS) allows administrators to specify security policies that define the permissions that an application or assembly requires running. This helps ensure that code only has access to the resources it needs to perform its intended function.
Common cryptographic algorithms are implemented with the help of encryption, decryption, hashing, digital signatures, and other operations.
Secure communication between apps is ensured by several classes, including SSL/TLS, Secure Socket Layer (SSL), and Transport Layer Security (TLS). Thus, the data is guaranteed to be encrypted during transmission.
Secure coding practices are promoted through tools like the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) and the Security Code Analysis tool. These tools help developers identify and address potential vulnerabilities in their code.
In addition to these features, the ecosystem also provides regular security updates and patches, ensuring that .NET-based applications can be used with confidence.
