Best of .NET — December 2025

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    Article
    Avatar of andrewlock.NET Escapades·23w

    Trying out the Zed editor on Windows for .NET and Markdown

    Zed editor on Windows offers impressive speed and smoothness compared to VS Code, with adequate support for .NET development through the OmniSharp extension. However, it falls short for Markdown editing, lacking key features like keyboard shortcuts for formatting, code folding, IntelliSense for links, and synchronized preview scrolling. While .NET editing works well (except for Razor files), the missing Markdown conveniences and intrusive autocomplete suggestions make it not yet ready to replace VS Code for writing documentation. The author remains optimistic about future improvements given Zed's rapid development pace.

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    Article
    Avatar of aspnetASP.NET Blog·23w

    Microsoft Learn MCP Server Elevates Development

    Microsoft introduces the Learn Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, which provides GitHub Copilot with up-to-date Microsoft documentation, code samples, and learning resources. This integration addresses the problem of AI models lacking knowledge about recent technologies by connecting Copilot to current Microsoft Learn content. The server offers improved code suggestions, context-aware documentation, and faster problem-solving directly within development environments. It's available as a built-in feature in Visual Studio 2022/2026 and can be installed as an extension in VS Code, Copilot CLI, and Copilot Coding Agent through straightforward configuration steps.

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    Article
    Avatar of telerikTelerik·21w

    What’s New in .NET 10 for ASP.NET Core

    .NET 10 introduces file-based applications that run from a single .cs file without project files, C# 14 extension properties and the field keyword for simpler property definitions, built-in validation for Minimal APIs, and Entity Framework Core 10 enhancements including LeftJoin/RightJoin methods, JSON column updates with ExecuteUpdate, complex type mapping, and named query filters. These features aim to improve developer productivity through reduced boilerplate and more intuitive APIs.

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    Article
    Avatar of telerikTelerik·20w

    What’s New with APIs in .NET 10: Real Improvements

    .NET 10 introduces built-in validation for Minimal APIs, eliminating the need for custom validation code. The release includes OpenAPI 3.1 support with improved JSON Schema handling, named query filters in Entity Framework Core 10 for selective filter disabling, and C# 14 features like field-backed properties, null-conditional assignment operators, and extension members. Additional improvements include native Server-Sent Events support for streaming updates. These enhancements focus on reducing boilerplate code and improving developer productivity for API development.

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    Article
    Avatar of dotnet.NET Blog·23w

    .NET 10 Networking Improvements

    .NET 10 introduces several networking improvements including WinHttpHandler certificate caching for better performance, a new HTTP QUERY verb, WebSocketStream for simplified stream-based WebSocket operations, TLS 1.3 support on macOS (opt-in), unified cipher suite information via NegotiatedCipherSuite, Server-Sent Events formatter to complement the existing parser, IP address validation methods, UTF-8 parsing support for IPAddress and IPNetwork, removal of URI length limits to support data URIs, and a new YAML media type constant.

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    Article
    Avatar of telerikTelerik·23w

    .NET 10: Quick UI Changes Worth Noticing in .NET MAUI

    .NET 10 introduces several UI improvements and deprecations for .NET MAUI developers. Key changes include a new IsRefreshEnabled property for RefreshView, replacement of ClickGestureRecognizer with TapGestureRecognizer, and new async versions of DisplayAlert and DisplayActionSheet. SearchHandler gains keyboard control APIs, Switch adds an OffColor property, and MediaPicker now automatically handles EXIF metadata for proper image orientation. MessagingCenter becomes internal (use WeakReferenceMessenger instead), and TableView is marked obsolete in favor of CollectionView. Windows desktop apps gain minimize/maximize button control.

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    Article
    Avatar of milanjovanovicMilan Jovanović·22w

    Server-Sent Events in ASP.NET Core and .NET 10

    ASP.NET Core 10 introduces native Server-Sent Events (SSE) support as a lightweight alternative to SignalR for one-way real-time updates. SSE uses standard HTTP with the text/event-stream content type, requires no client libraries, and supports automatic browser reconnection. The new Results.ServerSentEvents API works with IAsyncEnumerable to stream data, handles missed events via Last-Event-ID headers, and integrates seamlessly with existing authentication and authorization. SSE is ideal for dashboards, notifications, and progress bars where bidirectional communication isn't needed, while SignalR remains better for complex two-way scenarios.

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    Article
    Avatar of dotnet.NET Blog·23w

    .NET and .NET Framework December 2025 servicing releases updates

    .NET 10.0.1 and .NET Framework December 2025 servicing updates are now available. The .NET 10.0.1 release includes non-security fixes across Runtime, ASP.NET Core, SDK, WinForms, and Entity Framework Core. No new updates are available for .NET Framework this month. Release notes, container images, and installation guides are available through official channels.

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    Article
    Avatar of infoqInfoQ·23w

    ASP.NET Core in .NET 10: Major Updates Across Blazor, APIs, and OpenAPI

    .NET 10 brings major updates to ASP.NET Core, including extensive Blazor enhancements (security samples, client-side fingerprinting, QuickGrid updates, improved routing), built-in validation for Minimal APIs, Server-Sent Events support, full OpenAPI 3.1 compatibility with improved schema generation, new authentication metrics, WebAuthn passkey support in Identity, Kestrel improvements, and a System.Text.Json-based JSON Patch implementation. The release also includes Hot Reload improvements, circuit state persistence, and expanded diagnostics capabilities.

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    Article
    Avatar of milanjovanovicMilan Jovanović·23w

    The New .slnx Solution Format (migration guide)

    Microsoft introduced .slnx, a new XML-based solution file format for .NET that replaces the verbose, GUID-heavy .sln format. The new format is human-readable, easier to merge in version control, and aligns with the simplified .csproj format. You can migrate existing solutions using either the .NET CLI command 'dotnet sln migrate' or Visual Studio's 'Save As' feature. The format is supported in Visual Studio 2022 (v17.13+), Visual Studio 2026, Rider, and .NET 9 SDK (9.0.200+). While technically in preview, it's stable and safe for production use, with the primary benefit being dramatically fewer merge conflicts.

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    Article
    Avatar of archlinuxArch Linux·23w

    News: .NET packages may require manual intervention

    .NET packages on Arch Linux upgrading from version 9.0 to 10.0 may encounter dependency errors during installation. Affected packages include aspnet-runtime, dotnet-runtime, and dotnet-sdk. Users needing to keep version 9.0 can manually install versioned packages (e.g., aspnet-runtime-9.0) and remove the unversioned ones using pacman commands.

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    Article
    Avatar of jbogardThe Barley Architect·24w

    AutoMapper 16.0.0 and MediatR 14.0.0 Released with .NET 10 Support

    AutoMapper 16.0.0 and MediatR 14.0.0 have been released with .NET 10 support. Both libraries now align their major releases with .NET's release cadence to simplify dependency management. This release includes no API changes but adds NuGet package signing for enhanced security verification, confirming packages are published by Lucky Penny Software.

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    Article
    Avatar of hnHacker News·21w

    sebastienros/comptime: Comptime brings meta-programming capabilities to C#, enabling compile-time code generation and evaluation.

    Comptime is a .NET source generator that executes methods at compile time and serializes their results into C# code. By marking methods with the `[Comptime]` attribute, developers can shift expensive computations from runtime to build time, improving application performance. It supports primitive types, collections, method parameters with constant expressions, and generic methods. The tool uses C# interceptors to replace method calls with pre-computed values, requiring .NET 8.0+ and C# 12+. Methods must be static, classes must be partial, and return types must be immutable.

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    Article
    Avatar of atomicobjectAtomic Spin·23w

    Correctly Check and Use Nullable Variables in C#

    C# handles null checks differently for value types (like int) versus reference types (like string). After checking for null with the `is` operator, value types require accessing the `.Value` property to use the underlying value, while reference types can be used directly. This is because nullable value types use the `Nullable<T>` wrapper class with `.HasValue` and `.Value` properties, whereas reference types natively support null values without special wrappers.

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    Article
    Avatar of dotnet.NET Blog·20w

    Top .NET Blog Posts of 2025

    .NET 10 launched in November 2025 as the latest Long Term Support release with improvements across runtime, SDK, libraries, and tooling. Key highlights include performance enhancements with detailed benchmarks, AI integration through Microsoft Agent Framework and Model Context Protocol, Aspire 9.3 with GitHub Copilot integration for distributed apps, and tooling improvements like the new SLNX solution format and simplified single-file execution. The year also brought important announcements about 24-month support for STS releases and the formation of the .NET Security Group for coordinated security patches.

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    Article
    Avatar of dotnetsquad.NET·21w

    What is .NET Core & Why it replaced .NET Framework?

    .NET Core replaced .NET Framework to address modern development needs. While .NET Framework was Windows-only, tightly coupled to IIS, and slow to innovate, .NET Core introduced cross-platform support (Windows, Linux, macOS), high performance, open-source licensing, and cloud/container-friendly architecture. Microsoft strategically shifted all future development to .NET Core (now unified as .NET 5+), leaving .NET Framework in maintenance-only mode for legacy enterprise systems. For modern APIs, microservices, or cloud applications, current .NET versions (8, 9, 10) are the recommended choice.

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