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What’s New in .NET 8 for Developers?

What’s New in .NET 8 for Developers?

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GayathriRamalingam
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6 min read

What’s New in .NET 8 for Developers

TL;DR: .NET 8 brings forth enhancements aimed at revolutionizing app development and deployment, providing developers worldwide with an array of innovative tools and capabilities. Explore the groundbreaking features of .NET 8 in comparison to its predecessor.

Are you wondering [what’s new in .NET 8](learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/whats.. "What's new in .NET 8")? Look no further! This blog will explore the exciting features and enhancements that .NET 8 offers.

Let’s see them from a bird’s eye view!

Key features of .NET 8

Let’s dive into the key features and improvements that make .NET 8 a game-changer.

1. The new .NET LTS release

The .NET 8 marks a significant milestone as a Long-Term Support (LTS) release, promising three-year stability and support. This ensures a robust foundation for organizations, fostering confidence in adopting .NET 8 for their critical projects. With free support and patches provided over an extended period, developers can focus on innovation without worrying about sudden framework changes.

2. JSON upgradation

[JSON](en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON "Wikipedia Link: JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)") (JavaScript Object Notation) is a ubiquitous data format. In .NET 8, we can experience the following enhancements in JSON handling:

  • Performance boost: The improved performance and garbage collection in .NET 8 contribute to better efficiency when working with JSON data. This means faster serialization and deserialization, which is crucial for apps dealing with large datasets.
  • Latest specifications: The .NET 8 fully supports RFC 8259 and ECMA-404 standards. These standards define the rules for encoding and decoding JSON data, ensuring compatibility and consistency across different platforms and languages.
  • Better parsing and generation: Whether you’re parsing or generating JSON, .NET 8 has you covered. The enhanced parsing capabilities make extracting relevant information from complex JSON structures easier, while efficient generation ensures that your app can produce valid JSON output.

JSON is substantially upgraded in .NET 8. With improved performance and adherence to the latest specifications, handling JSON data becomes more efficient and reliable. Whether parsing or generating JSON, developers can expect seamless integration and enhanced performance, paving the way for smoother data interchange between systems and apps.

3. Property serialization from interface hierarchies

A notable feature introduced in .NET 8 is the capability to serialize properties from interface hierarchies. This gives developers unprecedented flexibility in serialization tasks, allowing them to tailor serialization behavior based on interface contracts.

Developers can optimize data transfer and storage by selectively serializing properties, enhancing app performance and scalability. Let’s illustrate this with an example:

C#

public interface IBase { int Base { get; set; } }

public interface IDerived : IBase { int Derived { get; set; } }

public class DerivedImpl : IDerived { public int Base { get; set; } public int Derived { get; set; } }

In the above code example, during serialization, the DerivedImpl class implements the IDerived interface, which in turn extends IBase. In this case, all the properties from the hierarchy (both Base and Derived) will be serialized. However, if you define your variable as IBase, only the Base property will be serialized. This flexibility allows you to tailor serialization behavior according to your specific needs.

4. Friendly metrics APIs in Dependency injection (DI)

.NET 8 introduces friendly metrics APIs to [dependency injection (DI)](en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_injection "Dependency Injection (DI)"). With friendly metrics APIs, you can easily monitor and measure the performance of your DI components. It’s all about making your code more maintainable and efficient. This enables better insights into app behavior, facilitates optimization efforts, and ensures efficient resource utilization. By streamlining DI management, .NET 8 enhances code maintainability and scalability, driving overall development efficiency.

5. DevOps improvements

DevOps lies at the core of contemporary software development, which is vital in facilitating smooth app delivery and deployment within the rapid pace of today’s development landscape.

The .NET 8 enhances build and deployment processes, making integrating with your CI/CD pipelines easier. Whether you’re deploying to cloud platforms, such as Azure, AWS, or on-premises servers, developers can leverage .NET 8 to streamline the deployment workflow. This will reduce the time-to-market and enhance collaboration between development and operations teams.

6. GetItems() method

The new GetItems() method provides a convenient way to retrieve items from collections. This concise and expressive method simplifies collection manipulation tasks, replacing verbose loops with a more intuitive approach. By improving code readability and maintainability, the GetItems() method enhances developer productivity and code quality, contributing to a more efficient development process.

7. Function pointers introspection support

Function pointers are a powerful feature in .NET 8. You can now inspect and manipulate function pointers dynamically. Whether you’re building dynamic libraries or optimizing performance-critical code, this feature opens up exciting possibilities.

8. Shuffle() method

Need to shuffle a collection? Look no further! The new Shuffle() method in .NET 8 randomizes the order of elements in your lists, arrays, or any enumerable. It’s a handy addition for games, statistical simulations, and more.

Comparison with .NET 7

The .NET 8 is built upon the foundation laid by .NET 7. While both versions offer stability and performance, .NET 8 introduces key enhancements like property serialization from interface hierarchies and friendly DI metrics APIs. If you’re migrating from .NET 7, it is assured that .NET 8 is a worthy successor.

Performance improvements

Regarding speed and performance, the .NET 8 is significantly optimized compared to .NET 7.

  • JIT (Just-In-Time) Compiler: Both versions use JIT compilation, but in .NET 8, it’s improved to process code faster and reduce loading and execution time. Advanced garbage collection and runtime environment in .NET 8 improve performance even during peak hours.
  • Observability and diagnostics: The .NET 8 has built-in tools and support for third-party APIs to observe health and pinpoint issues. In contrast, .NET 7 requires third-party tools for monitoring.
  • Cross-platform compatibility: Both versions maintain cross-platform compatibility, but .NET 8 further enhances this aspect.
  • Microsoft support: .NET 8 is a long-term support (LTS) release, ensuring stability and support for three years.
  • Programming language compatibility: Both versions continue to support various programming languages, but .NET 8 introduces enhancements.
  • Integration: .NET 8 offers seamless integration capabilities, making it easier to work with other technologies.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading the blog! In summary, .NET 8 is a leap forward. Whether you’re building web apps, microservices, desktop apps, or mobile solutions, these features will boost your productivity and elevate your development experience. Leverage .NET 8 for seamless app development!

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