This article discusses the different versions of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio. category 'KB', created 07-Feb-2010, version V1.4 (14-Nov-2011), by Luc Pattyn |
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This article discusses the different versions of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio.
The .NET Framework has several versions, with increasing functionality.
Features | .NET 1.0 | .NET 1.1 | .NET 2.0 |
.NET 3.0 | .NET 3.5 | .NET 4.0 |
Released | Feb 2002 | Apr 2003 | Nov 2005 | Nov 2006 | Nov 2007 | Apr 2010 |
Initial set of classes | x | x | x | x | x | x |
BackgroundWorker |
|
| x | x | x | x |
WPF, WCF, WF |
|
|
| x | x | x |
HashSet |
|
|
|
| x | x |
BigInteger |
|
|
|
|
| x |
Note: of course .NET also has its series of service packs and fixes. Wikipedia holds a pretty complete list.
More information on the differences between the versions is available in many places, including Wikipedia, Microsoft and this MSDN article on C#.
All versions reside in different folders on disk, and will coexist peacefully. You can determine which versions are installed with this.
Some Windows versions come with a set of .NET versions preinstalled; Windows Updater may also automatically add some .NET versions. Installing Visual Studio will add required versions if necessary. And if you need more, go to the Microsoft download site and pick one.
Windows 7 already comes with .NET 1.x, 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5 installed; for the 32-bit editions
look under C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework
. On a 64-bit machine, the 64-bit versions
are also present (not for 1.0/1.1), look under C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64
.
If your application needs a .NET version that isn't installed on your Windows system, launching it will probably
yield a rather cryptic error dialog mentioning an error 0xc0000135
.
In Microsoft's view each new .NET Framework version needs a new version of Visual Studio, so they get released concurrently. Starting with Visual Studio 2008, you can choose which .NET version to target. Here is the matrix:
Visual Studio | 2002 | 2003 |
2005 | 2005 with 3.0 | 2008 | 2010 |
Nickname | Ranier | Everett | Whidbey |
| Orcas | Hawaii |
Version | 7.0 | 7.1 | 8.0 |
| 9.0 | 10.0 |
.NET 1.0 | x |
|
|
|
|
|
.NET 1.1 |
| x |
|
|
|
|
.NET 2.0 |
|
| x | x | x | x |
.NET 3.0 |
|
|
| x | x | x |
.NET 3.5 |
|
|
|
| x | x |
.NET 4.0 |
|
|
|
|
| x |
Notes:
Perceler |
Copyright © 2012, Luc Pattyn |
Last Modified 02-Sep-2013 |