Cross-Platform Development
Learn how .NET Core enables true cross-platform development and deployment. This is a foundational concept in cross-platform .NET development that professional developers rely on daily. The explanations below are written to be beginner-friendly while covering the depth and nuance that comes from real-world .NET Core experience. Take your time with each section and practice the examples
Platform-Specific Considerations
While .NET Core provides cross-platform capabilities, understanding platform-specific differences is crucial for building robust applications.. This is an essential concept that every .NET Core developer must understand thoroughly. In professional development environments, getting this right can mean the difference between code that works reliably and code that breaks in production. The following sections break this down into clear, digestible pieces with practical examples you can try immediately
Cross-Platform Best Practices
- Use Path.Combine() instead of hardcoded path separators
- Handle case sensitivity differences between platforms
- Test on multiple target platforms — a critical concept in cross-platform .NET development that you will use frequently in real projects
- Use environment variables for platform-specific configurations
- Leverage .NET Core's platform detection APIs — a critical concept in cross-platform .NET development that you will use frequently in real projects
- Consider platform-specific native libraries carefully
Platform Detection Example
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
public class PlatformDetection
{
public static void Main()
{
Console.WriteLine($"OS: {RuntimeInformation.OSDescription}");
Console.WriteLine($"Architecture: {RuntimeInformation.OSArchitecture}");
Console.WriteLine($"Process Architecture: {RuntimeInformation.ProcessArchitecture}");
if (RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(OSPlatform.Windows))
{
Console.WriteLine("Running on Windows");
}
else if (RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(OSPlatform.Linux))
{
Console.WriteLine("Running on Linux");
}
else if (RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(OSPlatform.OSX))
{
Console.WriteLine("Running on macOS");
}
}
}