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Devs Souring on .NET 11?
Microsoft yesterday released the first preview of .NET 11, marking the start of the development cycle for the next Standard Term Support (STS) version scheduled for November 2026.
Of course, developers can be a finicky, opinionated lot, and while the release includes significant architectural updates, much early developer reaction has been notably skeptical, focusing on increased language complexity and the rapid pace of major version updates.
What's New in Preview 1
The official announcement details several core improvements to the runtime and SDK:
- Runtime-level Async: A modification to the runtime designed to improve the debugging experience of heavily asynchronous applications by allowing the runtime to better track asynchronous code paths.
- CoreCLR on WebAssembly: The WebAssembly SDK now supports CoreCLR as an alternative to the Mono runtime, bringing improved performance and JIT support to browser-hosted applications.
- Zstandard Support: The addition of a native ZstandardStream class for the Zstd compression algorithm within the System.IO.Compression namespace.
- CLI Quality of Life: Interactive target framework and device selection for the dotnet run command and improved Hot Reload capabilities for project reference changes.
The Syntax Bloat Debate & Calling BS
However, a primary point of friction involves a C# 15 feature known as collection expression arguments. This allows developers to pass arguments, such as capacity or comparers, directly within the collection expression brackets using a with()
element. An example provided in the release notes shows the syntax as: List<string> names = [with(capacity: values.Count * 2), .. values];
The topmost comment on the announcement post as of this writing is:
Collection Expression Arguments feature is bull**** and you know it. Please when you design analyzers give us granularity so we won't have to disable the analyzers suggesting collection expressions in general. (BTW the current analyzer wants me to use collection expressions in place of .ToList() on a LINQ query, which is of course stupid)
Others expressed significant skepticism regarding this addition. One dev questioned the added complexity, asking, "Is that one line so important to add additional complexity to the language and offer same functionality in 3 different ways?"
On community hubs like Reddit, many users expressed similar concerns about language bloat. For example, one commenter wrote, "I really don't like the way Collection Expression Arguments is going," while others suggested that the language is becoming over-engineered.
Other Reddit comments included:
- "collection expression args looks awful"
- "I really don't understand how this is a good idea when calling new() would be almost the same length..."
- "Ugh. Solving a non-existing issue imho. That looks horrible. I don't even care for collection expressions as they were."
The 'Agentic AI' Disconnect
While developers debate syntax, Microsoft is steering the framework toward a future defined by "Agentic AI." The ASP.NET Core roadmap for .NET 11 prioritizes "building agentic web apps" and "Copilot-assisted web development." This includes support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing .NET applications to act as tools for AI agents.
However, this strategic pivot is meeting resistance from some developers who feel AI features are overshadowing core framework needs. On some roadmap discussion, a user noted the industry trend with some reservation, specifically commenting about "legend" and "great visionary" Steve Sanderson: "Shame that his attention is more AI focused recently, but that's the industry trend nowadays." Others have used the roadmap discussion to urge focus on the "fragile" state of Native AOT and reflection in Blazor WebAssembly rather than new AI features.
The '.NET Fatigue' Factor
Beyond specific features, the discussion reflects exhaustion regarding the annual release cadence. A commenter noted on the official blog that the annual schedule "forces them to add features which nobody would normally add if they had a choice," adding that the ecosystem "seems like a train where few people are screaming to go faster while all others are hanging for their lives."
Under-the-Hood Wins
While the new syntax has detractors, performance-focused enhancements have been praised. On Reddit, a user noted they are "looking forward for coreclr instead of mono in wasm," while another user expressed hope for the runtime async mechanism: "I am hoping for an improvement of the debugging experience of heavily asynchronous apps (right now, the call stack is usually nonsense past the first await... that should improve when the runtime knows what is happening)."
Developer Productivity Gains
The new interactive target selection for dotnet run was also called out as a standout. "Interactive target framework and device selection Looks Awesome. Need to try that out," noted a user on Reddit.
Developer Support for Complexity
Even the controversial collection expressions have defenders. As a user argued: "But what's wrong about that? I like this syntax, new() would be too ambiguous and confusing."
The 'AI-Safe' Haven
Finally, some developers found the technical focus of the Preview 1 runtime notes refreshing. "No AI? That's mad, thank you very much," wrote a user on Reddit, highlighting a preference for library updates over marketing-led AI themes.
About the Author
David Ramel is an editor and writer at Converge 360.