Microsoft .Net Core 3.0 arrives

Latest version of Microsoft’s open source app framework goes GA with C# 8.0, Windows Forms and WPF, and lower memory consumption

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Microsoft’s .Net Core 3.0, an open source implementation of .Net software development technologies, is now generally available. Highlights of the release include C# 8, a smaller memory footprint, improved Docker support, and better performance overall.

Key capabilities of C# 8.0 include nullable, async streams, and more patterns. The garbage collector in .Net Core 3.0 not only uses less memory, but also makes better use of a larger number of processor cores.

Microsoft .Net Core 3.0 also includes support for Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Forms, and Windows Desktop applications. Other new features and improvements include:

Hardening for Docker, enabling .Net applications to work efficiently and predictably in containers. The thread pool and garbage collector have been updated to work better when a container has been been configured for limited memory or CPU. Docker images for .Net Core are smaller, especially the SDK image.
Support for the F# 4.7 language, with infrastructural changes to the compiler and core library.
Net Standard 2.1, which specifies APIs that are available on all .Net implementations. The set of types has been increased that can be used in .Net Core and Xamarin.
High-performance JSON APIs for reader/writer, object model, and serialization.
ARM and Raspberry Pi chips are supported for IoT development.
The Windows.Forms.DataVisualization package, including a chart control, is available for .Net Core.
Local tool installation is enabled via .Net Core tools.
SDK installers will upgrade in place.
Tiered compilation is on by default, enabling the runtime to more adaptively use the just-in-time compiler for better performance.
The updated ASP.Net Core 3.0 web framework allows developers to build interactive client-side web apps with C# instead of JavaScript, using the Blazor framework.
Support for the import and export of asymmetric public and private keys from standard formats, with no need for an X.509 certificates.
Support for AES-GCM and AES-CCM ciphers.

.Net Core 3.0 will be superseded by .Net Core 3.1, a long-term support (LTS) release planned for November 2019. Going forward, Microsoft will consolidate .Net development around .Net 5 next year, ending separate releases of .Net Framework and .Net Core.