News

.NET Portable Class Libraries Made Available for Non-Microsoft Platforms

The libraries are also included in the upcoming release of Visual Studio 2013.

Microsoft has opened up its Portable Class Libraries (PCLs) -- previously only available to .NET Framework developers -- to be used on any platform, including non-Microsoft ones.

PCLs allow code-sharing between frameworks, but until now, the .NET PCL reference assemblies were license-restricted to Windows platforms like Silverlight, Windows Store, Windows Phone and Xbox. That restriction has been lifted, and the PCLs are now available as a standalone release, according to a blog entry by Rich Lander, a .NET Framework Program Manager.

For developers using Visual Studio 2013 (which is currently at the Release Candidate stage, and will be officially available Oct. 18), the PCLs are automatically installed. The standalone version is a ZIP file that "you can use on other platforms (or within other tools), Lander wrote. Presumably, some of those "other" platforms would include Android and iOS, the de facto standards for mobile developers.

The standalone PCL is available here. A discussion of cross-platform development (across the various Microsoft platforms) was published on the Visual Studio Magazine Web site last May.

About the Author

Keith Ward is the editor in chief of Virtualization & Cloud Review. Follow him on Twitter @VirtReviewKeith.

comments powered by Disqus

Featured

  • Full Stack Hands-On Development with .NET

    In the fast-paced realm of modern software development, proficiency across a full stack of technologies is not just beneficial, it's essential. Microsoft has an entire stack of open source development components in its .NET platform (formerly known as .NET Core) that can be used to build an end-to-end set of applications.

  • .NET-Centric Uno Platform Debuts 'Single Project' for 9 Targets

    "We've reduced the complexity of project files and eliminated the need for explicit NuGet package references, separate project libraries, or 'shared' projects."

  • Creating Reactive Applications in .NET

    In modern applications, data is being retrieved in asynchronous, real-time streams, as traditional pull requests where the clients asks for data from the server are becoming a thing of the past.

  • AI for GitHub Collaboration? Maybe Not So Much

    No doubt GitHub Copilot has been a boon for developers, but AI might not be the best tool for collaboration, according to developers weighing in on a recent social media post from the GitHub team.

  • Visual Studio 2022 Getting VS Code 'Command Palette' Equivalent

    As any Visual Studio Code user knows, the editor's command palette is a powerful tool for getting things done quickly, without having to navigate through menus and dialogs. Now, we learn how an equivalent is coming for Microsoft's flagship Visual Studio IDE, invoked by the same familiar Ctrl+Shift+P keyboard shortcut.

Most   Popular

Subscribe on YouTube