.NET 8.0 Brings Long-Term Support

• .NET 8.0, generally available, is a good choice for applications requiring longer stability periods because it will be supported until Nov. 2026.
• It includes minor updates throughout many functional areas and brings improved performance and enhancements that help developers build Web applications.
• It delivers new versions of ASP.NET Core, Entity Framework Core, C#, and F#.

.NET 8.0 is an update to Microsoft’s cross-platform software development framework, which provides runtime engines, code libraries, and tools for the company’s programming languages (such as C#) and development technologies (such as ASP.NET Core). The updates in .NET 8.0 do not significantly expand the framework’s capabilities or the development practices used with it. Rather, the greatest appeal of .NET 8.0 is likely to be its long support horizon, especially considering that alternatives are retiring in 2024.

Capabilities and Components

.NET delivers class libraries (sets of development APIs) and a runtime environment required by managed code applications that can be implemented in programming languages such as C#, F#, and Visual Basic.