Table of Contents
.NET Framework Era (2002–2019)
.NET Framework 1.0 (2002)
Foundation Release – The beginning of managed code revolution
- 🏗️ CLR (Common Language Runtime)
- 📚 Base Class Library (BCL)
- 💻 C# and VB.NET support
- 🖼️ Windows Forms
- 🌐 ASP.NET Web Forms
- 🗃️ ADO.NET
.NET Framework 1.1 (2003)
Mobile and Connectivity Enhancements
- 📱 Mobile ASP.NET controls
- 🌐 IPv6 support
- 🔗 ODBC .NET Data Provider
- 🔒 Security enhancements
.NET Framework 2.0 (2005)
Generics Revolution – Major language advancement
- ⚡ Generics
- 🧩 Partial classes
- ❓ Nullable types
- 🎭 Anonymous methods
- 📄 Master pages in ASP.NET
- 🚀 ClickOnce deployment
.NET Framework 3.0 (2006)
Rich Client Platform
- 🎨 WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation)
- 📡 WCF (Windows Communication Foundation)
- 🔄 WF (Windows Workflow Foundation)
- 🆔 CardSpace
.NET Framework 3.5 (2007)
LINQ Era – Query revolution
- 🔍 LINQ
- 🎯 Lambda expressions
- 🔧 Extension methods
- 🌐 ASP.NET AJAX
- ⚡ PLINQ
.NET Framework 4.0 (2010)
Dynamic and Parallel Computing
- 🎭 DLR (Dynamic Language Runtime)
- 🔄 TPL (Task Parallel Library)
- 📝 Named/optional parameters
- 🎪 Dynamic keyword
- 🏗️ ASP.NET MVC
.NET Framework 4.5 (2012)
Async Revolution
- ⏳ async/await
- 📦 Portable Class Libraries
- 🌐 ASP.NET Web API
- 🗃️ Entity Framework 5
.NET Framework 4.6–4.8 (2015–2019)
- 🎯 C# 6.0–7.0 support
- ⚡ JIT and runtime performance
- 🎨 WPF, WinForms improvements
- 📱 High DPI/touch support
- ♿ Accessibility and final optimizations
.NET Core Era (2016–2019)
.NET Core 1.x
- 🌍 Cross-platform (Windows/Linux/macOS)
- 🔓 Open-source, modular
- 🌐 ASP.NET Core
- 🗃️ EF Core
- 📏 .NET Standard support
.NET Core 2.x
- 📈 Major API expansion
- 📄 Razor Pages
- 🧠 Span<T>/Memory<T>
- 📡 SignalR
- 🏥 Health checks
.NET Core 3.x
- 🖥️ WPF & WinForms (Windows-only)
- 🔥 Blazor Server
- ⚙️ Worker Services
- 🎯 C# 8.0
- 🛡️ LTS with .NET Core 3.1
.NET Unified Platform (2020–Present)
.NET 5.0 (2020)
- 🎯 Unified SDK (Core + Framework + Xamarin)
- 📝 C# 9.0
- 📦 Single-file apps
- 🌐 Blazor WebAssembly production ready
.NET 6.0 (2021) – LTS
- 🚀 Minimal APIs
- 🔥 Hot Reload
- 📱 MAUI
- 🎯 C# 10
.NET 7.0 (2022)
- 🎯 C# 11
- 🚦 Rate Limiting
- 🏗️ Native AOT enhancements
.NET 8.0 (2023) – LTS
- 🎯 C# 12
- 🔥 Streaming Blazor rendering
- 🆔 Identity APIs
- 🔑 Keyed DI Services
.NET 9.0 (2024)
- 🎯 C# 13
- 🔍 LINQ improvements
- 📄 Serialization enhancements
- ☁️ Cloud-native support
Key Milestones Timeline
2002 ● .NET Framework 1.0 (Foundation)
2005 ● .NET Framework 2.0 (Generics)
2007 ● .NET Framework 3.5 (LINQ)
2012 ● .NET Framework 4.5 (async/await)
2016 ● .NET Core 1.0 (Cross-platform)
2019 ● .NET Core 3.1 (LTS)
2020 ● .NET 5.0 (Unified)
2021 ● .NET 6.0 (LTS, MAUI)
2022 ● .NET 7.0 (Performance)
2023 ● .NET 8.0 (LTS, Blazor Native AOT)
2024 ● .NET 9.0 (Latest)
Legend
- 🏁 Major Milestone
- ⚡ Performance
- 🎯 Language Feature
- 🌐 Web Tech
- 🖥️ Desktop
- 📱 Mobile/Cross-platform
- 🔒 Security
- 📦 Deployment
- 🧪 Dev Tools
Note: LTS versions are supported for 3 years, non-LTS are supported for 18 months after the next release.