What is .NET?

.NET

.NET is a free, cross-platform, open source developer platform for building many different types of applications.

With .NET, you can use multiple languages, editors, and libraries to build for web, mobile, desktop, games, IoT, and more.

Languages

You can write .NET apps in C#, F#, or Visual Basic.

• C# is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language.
• F# is a programming language that makes it easy to write succinct, robust, and performant code.
• Visual Basic is an approachable language with a simple syntax for building type-safe, object-oriented apps.

Learn about .NET Languages

Cross Platform

Whether you're working in C#, F#, or Visual Basic, your code will run natively on any compatible operating system. You can build many types of apps with .NET. Some are cross-platform, and some target a specific set of operating systems and devices.

One consistent API

.NET provides a standard set of base class libraries and APIs that are common to all .NET applications.

Each app model can also expose additional APIs that are specific to the operating systems it runs on, or the capabilities it provides. For example, ASP.NET is the cross-platform web framework that provides additional APIs for building web apps that run on Linux or Windows.

Learn about .NET standard libraries

Libraries

To extend functionality, Microsoft and others maintain a healthy .NET package ecosystem.

NuGet is a package manager built specifically for .NET that contains over 100,000 packages.

Active community and open-source

.NET is open source and under the .NET Foundation. The .NET Foundation is an independent organization to foster open development and collaboration around the .NET ecosystem.

Because .NET is open source, you can join the thousands of developers and companies already contributing to the .NET platform.

Get quick answers to questions with an active community of developers on Stack Overflow.

Join the .NET community

Tools

The Visual Studio product family provides a great .NET development experience on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

The Visual Studio Marketplace has thousands of editor extensions from Microsoft and others.

If you prefer to use a different editor, there are .NET command-line tools and plug-ins for many popular editors.

Learn about tools for .NET

Why choose .NET?

Find out why customers all over the world, in many different industries, rely on .NET.

Why choose .NET?