Understanding Xamarins Use of .NET Framework and .NET Core

Xamarin: A Cross-Platform Development Tool Using .NET Framework and .NET Core

Introduction

Xamarin is a powerful platform for developing cross-platform mobile applications. It allows developers to create applications for both iOS and Android using a single codebase, leveraging .NET Framework and .NET Core. This article aims to clarify whether Xamarin primarily uses .NET Framework or .NET Core, as well as address its future integration with the unified .NET MAUI platform.

Xamarin and .NET Framework

Xamarin is a UI toolkit that enables the creation of cross-platform applications using a single codebase. It supports both .NET Framework and .NET Core, which are now referred to as .NET 5 and later releases, respectively. This means that developers can leverage .NET Framework for applications that require enterprise-grade features, while .NET Core offers a lightweight, cross-platform alternative.

Xamarin and .NET Standard

For code sharing across different platforms, Xamarin utilizes the .NET Standard assemblies. On the Android platform, the Mono Framework acts as the Common Language Runtime (CLR), allowing developers to share code more efficiently. The Mono Framework, originally developed in the late 2000s, has been open source and has been successfully ported to various platforms, including Mac and Linux.

Future of Xamarin

Microsoft has acquired Xamarin and is gradually transitioning it to align with the unified .NET MAUI platform. .NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI) is the next-generation framework for building cross-platform mobile applications using the .NET platform. This transition indicates that Xamarin's future will be closely tied to the unified .NET ecosystem.

The current situation with Xamarin is that it primarily uses the Mono Framework, which is an open-source implementation of .NET. Although Mono was developed independently, it has been sponsored by Microsoft. Given that Mono was created before .NET Core, it has followed the roadmap of .NET Framework. However, with Microsoft's acquisition of Xamarin, it is likely that .NET Core will be integrated into Xamarin's development process in the near future.

There is a possibility that Xamarin will shift to .NET Core as the primary framework, though the exact timing is uncertain. Given the roadmap of .NET 5 and its convergence with .NET Core, the distinction between the two may become less significant.

Conclusion

In summary, while Xamarin traditionally supported both .NET Framework and .NET Core, its future is more aligned with the unified .NET platform, particularly with the implementation of .NET MAUI. This transition will likely bring about a more streamlined and unified approach to cross-platform app development using the .NET framework.

Related Terms

- .NET Framework: A framework for building applications that run on Microsoft’s Windows operating systems.

- .NET Core: A cross-platform, open-source framework for building modern cloud-based and connected apps.

- .NET MAUI: Multi-platform App UI, the next-generation framework for building cross-platform mobile applications using the .NET platform.