What’s New in .NET 7: .NET 7.0 New Features and Updates

Quick Overview:
After the expiration of the .NET version, Microsoft released a new one. And now, .NET 7 ranks on top as the latest .NET version. Every dot net development company is using it for building top-notch solutions. Also, people are looking to hire a dot net developer who knows the features of .NET 7.

Due to all such popularity, questions also strike: What’s new in .NET 7, and Why upgrade to .NET 7?

You don’t have to go anywhere else to find answers, as in this blog, all the details are provided. Here, you will understand the top .NET 7 features, making it the first choice for software development.

What is .NET 7, and Why Upgrade to .NET 7?

.NET 7 is the newer version of Microsoft’s development framework and the successor of .NET 6. When the support for a .NET version expires, Microsoft releases a newer version with more advancements. Currently, .NET 7 changes are being used by most dot net development companies, as its support is available for the next 18 months.

In addition, you must also upgrade to .NET 7 to use the latest features, security updates, and performance-optimizing components. It will help you align solutions with new-age user requirements, comply with industry standards, and harness the .NET 7 performance improvements for enhanced application efficiency.

The Need To Know .NET 7 Features and Upgrades

You must know the .NET 7 new features and upgrades for the following reasons:

• Aids in making applications more powerful.
• Enables to improve the application security and performance.
• Helps in making software compatible with macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android systems.
• Supports indirect deployment to containers.
• Improves the skillset and supports professional improvement.

A Sum-Up Answer To: What’s New in .NET 7?

In the .NET 7, Microsoft has provided the following updates to improve application speed, performance, compatibility, and development procedure.

Performance Optimization

In the .NET 7-based application, you will analyze a boost to speed and performance. Microsoft has released several performance-accelerating components in this version, which includes the following: 

OSR (On-Stack Replacement)

OSR helps in improving the code execution during runtime, as it allows the currently running process to change the methods in between. In addition, it also gets considered as a tiered compilation complement. Due to this, .NET developers prefer it for implementing method switching for extended or time-consuming processes.

PGO (Profile-guided Optimization) 

In .NET 7, Microsoft allows you to run PGO and OSR simultaneously, which you can enable in only the following two steps: 

• Step 1: Open the project file. 
• Step 2: Add the code: <TieredPGO>true</TieredPGO> and save the file. 

Once you complete the PGO enablement, .NET 7 will improve the overall application performance.

Native AOT

Native Ahead-of-Time is not a new concept for .NET developers. But .NET 7 has an improved architecture and is free from external dependencies. In addition, it doesn’t rely on JIT or IL and provides a complete focus on console applications. Because of this, Native AOT in .NET 7 improves the startup time and reduces memory utilization and disk size. 

Therefore, if you want to improve the speed of your .NET application, then .NET 7 must be your choice.

Improved Serialization of System.Text.Json

System.Text.Json is an essential file of the .NET ecosystem. It helps the applications to determine whether they should perform serialization and deserialization through JSON establishment. In .NET 7 features, Microsoft has focused on it too and improved it per the following aspects: 

• The new serialization provides more control over types and their serialization and deserialization. 
• Polymorphic serialization is provided to .NET developers to streamline the definition of user-defined hierarchies. 

Besides, you can leverage the support for required members, allowing authors to define fields and properties and serialize reflection. Moreover, the new version of .NET enables the passing JsonSerializerOptions read-only instance. Thus, the .NET 7 enhances the serialization power of .NET applications.  

Inclusion of Generic Math

The generic math method is an innovative solution in the .NET 7 feature list. Primarily, it works only with C# and .NET 7, which helps to perform mathematical operations without the type knowledge. In addition, it eliminates the need for a writing overload method for variables treated as input for the mathematical function. 

Moreover, with generic math, you need to write only one generic method, which would fulfill all the requirements. Even it would work in cases where the type parameter gets constrained for being a number-like type. Additionally, it also aids in exposing the operators as a component of the interface, offering new-age checked operators in forms.

Betterment of Regular Expression Library

In .NET 7, you can see improvement in the regular expression library. And all its updates improve applications’ overall performance, speed, and stability. Furthermore, its top features include the following: 

• Backtracking is avoided, and a guarantee is provided for linear-time processing. 
• The new library offers better throughput using source generators that optimize patterns during the compile time. 
• It also provides a source generator that can diagnose alerts about the locations, converting Regex to a source generator. 
• Regex.EnumerateMatches, Regex.Count, Regex.IsMatch(ReadOnlySpan) and many more methods are added to the library.

Upgradation of .NET API Libraries

By moving your application to .NET 7, you can leverage the API library’s advanced features and functionalities, such as: 

• Microseconds and nanoseconds support is provided for date and time-associated APIs. 
• Rate-limiting features are introduced for APIs to assure traffic safety. 
• The Upgrade enables developers to configure APIs for reading all the data. 
• Unix file permissions can be set through an application programmable interface. 
• JS-based applications get permission to reuse .NET libraries and expand support for WebAssembly. 
• Besides, the .NET 7 API library benefits from availing current statistics about memory caches.

Multi-Platform Support

With the help of .NET 7, you can run your application on all major platforms. It supports all the below-listed OS and platforms, such as: 

• Android
• macOS 
• Windows
• macOS

Additionally, it also ensures support for multiple CPU architectures as below, but not limited to: 

• x64
• ARM64
• ARM32
• X86 

Therefore, if you hire a dot net developer, they can build a top-notch business application using .NET 7 that will be compatible with all significant OS, CPU architectures, and platforms. And it would support you in reaching out to all target users. 

Updates for .NET SDK

 The .NET Software Development Kit (SDK) also avails some advantages with .NET 7. Now, you can generate new projects, templates, and configuration files from the command line interface. Tab completion can be used for exploring allowable option values, template options, and available template names. 

In addition, you can directly publish the application to a container. The .NET 7 SDK supports container images as a primary output, helping in reducing efforts for deployment tasks. Moreover, you also get centralized package management in the new .NET SDK. You can use NuGet to manage all the packages, find a third-party SDK, and install it for your project. 

The .NET 7 streamlines the task, improving productivity and enhancing the application’s speed and development. 

Source Generation For P/Invoke

The P/Invoke source generator is available in the .NET 7, which replaces the DllImport. It has been highly improved, as you can use it for converting DllImport attributes into LibraryImport. In addition, it removes the need for an IL stub during run time, as it generates the marshaling code during the compilation. 

Moreover, it contributes to the application’s high performance in collaboration with Native AOT. Also, Microsoft has released .NET 7 with fixers that can help developers effortlessly complete its implementation. Due to this upgradation, a dot net development company can easily enhance the app’s speed.

ML.NET and .NET MAUI Updates

.NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI) is a high-end functionality of Microsoft .NET 7. It makes developing cloud-based, native, mobile, and desktop applications easy for developers. Also, it completely suits containers and microservices architectures, enabling the upgrade of a single app’s components without impacting the others. 

Moreover, it also contains APIs that can run cross-platform and get used to curate responsive interfaces, adapting to screen sizes and devices. 

Additionally, you can integrate your application with ML.NET to incorporate machine learning functionalities. And if you do so, it will help you with the following: 

• Better security
• Improved decision making
• Automate operations and predictions
• Detecting fraud
• Speech and image recognition and more

Does a .NET Development Company Prefer To Use .NET 7? 

An authentic dot net development company, such as Positiwise Software Pvt Ltd, always uses the latest version of .NET. And even industry experts prefer to use .NET 7 due to its high speed and advanced features. In addition, .NET 7 is currently trending and used by most companies to curate business solutions. 

If you are considering using it for your solution, go for it. Your .NET 7-based software will run efficiently as per the requirements. Also, Microsoft will support .NET 7 until May 14, 2024, so you will get all security and other patches on time.

Concluding Up

.NET 7 is a trending technology that industry experts prefer for curating top-level solutions. Microsoft has advanced its features, such as Native AOT, OSR, PGO, centralized package manager, expression library, and more. Due to all such improvements, .NET 7 is increasing the proficiency of applications, making them more compatible across digital platforms. 

In addition, newer versions of ML.NET and .NET SDK are also available with .NET 7. Both add gen alpha functionalities to the application, strengthen the security, and ensure direct deployment to the cloud and containers.