.NET 7 vs .NET 8: Which One Should You Choose?

.NET has continued to lead the way in innovation in today’s dynamic software development expanse, assisting both businesses and developers alike to succeed in their development endeavors. This highly flexible platform accommodates all unique development needs and projects of any size or scale, whether they entail creating web apps, desktop apps, mobile apps, or IoT solutions .NET has undergone continuous enhancements and upgrades over the years as Microsoft works to improve the framework’s functionality with each release.

.NET 8, the latest addition to the framework, is a significant release because it introduces noteworthy enhancements and upgrades to the framework’s existing capabilities. Building upon its predecessor, .NET 7, this latest release adds a host of new features and functionalities. These additions aim to elevate conventional software development, bringing it to a new level of power and refinement.

This piece further explores the differences between .NET 7 and .NET 8, offering valuable insights into both versions to help you make an informed decision about switching to the latter.

.NET 7 vs .NET 8: Key Differences

Microsoft has laid a solid foundation with the .NET framework’s release, continually raising the bar through successive releases by introducing new features and optimizations. In the case of .NET 7 and .NET 8, although both are versions of the same framework, there are distinct variations in what each version offers. While .NET 7 introduced many groundbreaking features and variations to the .NET framework’s existing abilities, .NET 8, the game-changing successor, has exponentially expanded upon the features, injecting enhanced performance, flexibility, augmented security measures, and developer efficacy. That makes .NET 8 a far better choice than .NET 7.

Understanding the Main Differences between NET 7 and .NET 8

In contrast to .NET 7, the framework has significantly changed in .NET 8. To help you better understand the capabilities and points of differentiation between the two versions, we have enumerated all the notable changes here. 

1. Programming Language Dynamics

With .NET 8, new advancements have been introduced in C#, and the need for boilerplate code has been eliminated. This results in increased developer output, allowing them to:

• Write clean, more concise, and focused code.
• Debug efficiently.
• Easily understand and modify code to accommodate future updates.
• Avoid unnecessary repetitive structures, promoting code expressiveness.

These factors are possible to attain thanks to the numerous key features of .NET 8, which include enhanced record types, improved pattern matching, simplified syntax and implicit usings, and async stream handling, among other factors. This makes .NET 8 the better choice for developers who are on the lookout to leverage the newest and ground-breaking features of .NET 8.

2. Performance Monitoring & Diagnostics

To ensure a software application’s stability, monitoring and diagnosing its issues are crucial. In .NET 7, third-party tools must be used for this purpose. Conversely, .NET 8 comes with inbuilt tools and features for monitoring application behavior, facilitating efficient identification and addressing bugs or flaws for developers even before the software reaches end-users.

3. Cross-Platform Development

In terms of cross-platform-compatible application building, the latest .NET 8 release is significantly more effective than .NET 7. It has been built with optimization and support for hardware intrinsics like AVX-512, Vector 512, Arm64, and WebAssembly. Due to this optimized cross-platform compatibility support, it’s possible to target users across a range of devices that run on a variety of operating systems.

4. Contrasts in Incorporation

Integration in .NET 7 requires developers to write custom codes for APIs and other components, which can be time-consuming. However, .NET 8 has simplified the integration process by providing built-in support for most of the integrated development environments, APIs, and services. Its debugging functionalities have also been improved, helping to remove errors and improve process execution in a shorter amount of time.

5. Optimizing Overall Framework Performance

In each .NET release, Microsoft’s primary and consistent aim has always been to enhance its performance. Similarly, in terms of performance, speed, and efficiency, .NET 8 stands out. Here’s why:

• Both versions of the framework use a Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler. .NET 8 capitalizes on what .NET 7 introduced and processes code faster, lowering the loading and process execution time exponentially.
• .NET 8’s garbage collector and runtime environment are more advanced than those of .NET 7, allowing businesses to save resources without compromising performance.

6. Support from Microsoft

For each .NET release, Microsoft offers a different support period according to their policy:

• LTS (Long-Term Support): Consists of 3 years of support from Microsoft
• STS (Standard-Term Support): STS version releases receive support from Microsoft for 18 months

.NET 8 will continue to receive updates, patches, and new features from Microsoft from November 14th, 2023, to November 10th, 2026, making it a very advantageous and secure option for developers and businesses to switch to. .NET 7’s support period, on the other hand, will end on May 14th, 2024.

Essential .NET 8 New Features

Breaking down its numerous enhancements and the key differences has underscored how beneficial .NET 8 can be. Let’s look at the newest features of .NET 8 that will help you understand its enhanced functionalities even further. These include:

1. Garbage Collector Improvements

In comparison to all other .NET versions, .NET 8’s garbage collector has been significantly refined. These refinements are implemented with a focus on aiming for optimal memory management and performance. These changes primarily include the following: 

• Dynamically adapt memory limits based on application requirements, optimizing resource usage.
• Leverages vectorization, branching, bounds checking, and constant folding techniques in the JIT compiler to enhance code execution speed.
• Empowers developers with a RefreshMemoryLimit API to enable proactive control at runtime over memory allocation.
• Introduces Tiering and Dynamic PGO for method-level performance optimization, resulting in more efficient code execution.
• Introduces zeroing optimizations and a non-GC heap to lower memory overhead and boost performance.

2. Upgraded .NET MAUI

.NET 8 further elevated the capabilities of .NET MAUI. It will still require a single codebase but is now also compatible with API 34 and XCode 15, ensuring seamless cross-platform operability on WinUI, Android, iOS, and Mac Catalyst platforms.

3. Native AOT

Native AOT (Ahead-of-Time) compilation was introduced in .NET 7, but .NET 8 enhances it further. This feature allows applications to use only the necessary code rather than compiling the overall codebase, which helps: 

• Eliminate the need for a JIT compiler.
• Increase loading time.
• Reduce network and memory usage.
• Speeds up process execution and reduces associated costs.
• Improves the user experience.

4. Serialization Improvements

In .NET 8, System.Text.Json has undergone notable optimizations to be more efficacious and versatile in terms of serialization. Key enhancements include:

• Faster parsing and serialization of JSON data.
• Enhanced source generator improves compatibility with Native AOT scenarios, resulting in performance gains.
• Introduces streaming deserialization APIs, enabling efficient incremental processing of JSON data.
• Supports serializing types with required and init properties without requiring additional workarounds.
• Supports JsonStringEnumConverter<TEnum>, simplifying serialization and deserialization of enum types with string representations.

5. SHA-3 Hashing Algorithm

With a focus on enhancing the current security features, .NET 8 has introduced SHA-3, a more recent and reliable hashing algorithm than SHA-1 and SHA-2. It allows developers to leverage this algorithm for security-critical operations in software applications. 

6. Enhanced Blazor

With the release of .NET 8, Blazor is now a full-stack web UI development framework. It enables the simultaneous handling of client-side and server-side operations, considerably improving performance. Other Blazor enhancements include:

• Streaming Rendering
• Static server Rendering (SSR)
• Data Display with QuickGrid
• Identity Authentication
• Auto-select Rendering at Runtime
• Form Handling and Per-Component Interactivity

7. Augmented AI Integration

In today’s digitally evolving realm, artificial intelligence (AI) has become widely adopted, and organizations are increasingly harnessing its potential. .NET 8, intent on simplifying and optimizing its integration, has made improvements to the System.Numerics library. This enables smoother, quicker, and more reliable AI integration, empowering applications built with .NET 8 to fully unlock AI capabilities with improved performance, accuracy, and stability.

8. Frozen Collections

.NET 8 introduces frozen collections to equip developers with a powerful tool to safeguard data integrity and enhance performance in specific contexts. These collections, namely FrozenHashSet and Frozen Dictionary, once created, cannot be altered or modified, making them a much-preferred alternative to their mutable counterparts. Their immutability guarantees data consistency and prevents accidental modifications, reducing the potential for errors.

Frozen collections are ideal for implementing security-critical operations, representing read-only data, exchanging configuration data, and caching scenarios.

Should You Switch from .NET 7 to .NET 8? 

With its advanced features and capabilities, .NET 8 is a wise choice for your applications. Migrating your current apps from .NET 7 to .NET 8 can be a strategic decision. 

If you require assistance with the migration process, consider reaching out to Ansi ByteCode LLP to hire .NET developers from us. Our skilled developers can help you with the switch to .NET 8 and ensure that your app takes full advantage of its capabilities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, .NET 8 represents a paradigm shift in conventional software development. In comparison to .NET 7, this release incorporates features and enhancements that significantly improve development in many ways, making it a wise choice for businesses to switch from .NET 7 to .NET 8.