What's New in Modern .NET Library APIs
.NET 9 was introduced in November with claims of speed, efficiency, and cross-platform capabilities to provide Microsoft-centric developers with even more flexibility and power to write modern applications.
That's done with the help of new APIs that have been introduced by the Microsoft dev team in recent .NET versions, with .NET 9 providing new APIs for .NET Aspire, ASP.NET Core and other properties that touch upon functionality regarding OpenAI, garbage collection, authentication and authorization and much more.
[Click on image for larger view.] .NET 9 Highlights (source: .NET Conf screenshot).
To help developers get a handle on the new .NET 9 functionality, specifically what APIs have been added to recent .NET versions, expert Microsoft MVP Jason Bock will review new features and APIs at the Visual Studio Live! developer conference coming to Las Vegas in March.
Aptly titled "What's New in Modern .NET Library APIs," this is an intermediate session lasting 75 minutes in which attendees are promised to learn:
- What functionality .NET provides
- New features in the latest version of .NET
- Insights in staying on top of new runtime versions
We caught up with Bock, a staff software engineer at Rocket Mortgage, to learn more about his upcoming session.
VSLive! What inspired you to present a session on this topic?
Bock: I've always been interested in watching the evolution of .NET.
"The API surface is .NET is vast, providing functionality for a wide variety of concerns, from as small as generating a unique identifier to creating a web application. In each version, there's always something new to dive into and see what it does."
Jason Bock, Staff Software Engineer, Rocket Mortgage
The API surface is .NET is vast, providing functionality for a wide variety of concerns, from as small as generating a unique identifier to creating a web application. In each version, there's always something new to dive into and see what it does. Even if it may not of interest me now, it might be something I need in the future. I want to learn about these features and share with others what I've found.
What is just one of the most notable API additions in .NET 9 that serve to enhance developer productivity?
While the focus is usually on "big name" items like .NET MAUI and .NET Aspire, I personally am interested in those general-purpose APIs that I can use no matter what application I'm building or framework I'm using. For example, there's a new type called CompositeFormat that is useful when you want to use a string with format "holes" in them that will get filled in later, like in a logging call. CompositeFormat can make this scenario a bit more performant. Task.WhenEach() is a new API that will let you enumerate a set of tasks based on when the tasks complete. Finally, the Base64Url class -- a type used for Base64 encoding -- no longer requires a separate package to be installed from NuGet. It's "in the box" with .NET 9.
What are a couple of top considerations developers should keep in mind when integrating these new APIs into existing .NET applications?
.NET has become an extremely stable platform from an upgrade perspective. Gone are the days where moving from one version of the .NET Framework to a new one may require a significant investment of time addressing breaking changes and versioning issues. If you're moving from a previous version of .NET to .NET 9, the transition should be very smooth. That doesn't mean it'll always issue-free, but keeping on pace with new .NET versions is far less of a burden than it used to be.
How do the new APIs in .NET 9 align with current trends in cloud-native development and microservices architecture?
There are definitely changes related to AI. There are more packages being released by Microsoft that make the usage of LLMs and other AI-related technologies easier to consume. .NET Aspire is a new API that is all about simplifying and empowering developers working on cloud-based applications. And underneath it all, there are constant performance improvements in each version of .NET to improve the performance of modern applications targeting .NET.
What resources or best practices would you recommend for developers to get up to speed with these new APIs and prepare for your session?
Microsoft typically provides a "what's new" article summarizing all of the changes that are done with a major release. .NET 9 is no different -- you can find that resource here. If you're interesting in diving deeper, there are Markdown diff files that show exactly what has changed from version to version. Those release notes exist here.
Note: Those wishing to attend the conference can save hundreds of dollars by registering early, according to the event's pricing page. "Save $500 when you Register by the Cyber Savings deadline of Dec. 13," said the organizer of the event.
Posted by David Ramel on 12/12/2024