The .NET Eras Tour: A visual timeline view of .NET Framework, .NET Core, and .NET

[SeanKilleen]

Because someone asked about it and I'd always wished I'd had it. It probably exists elsewhere but this is my chance to put it into Mermaid

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework_version_history
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/microsoft-net-and-net-core

flowchart TD
Start["Start (at .NET 4.6; historical versions irrelevant)"]
NET46[.NET Framework 4.6 - 2015-07-20]
NET461[.NET Framework 4.6.1 - 2015-11-30]
NET462[.NET Framework 4.6.2 - 2016-08-02]
NET47[.NET Framework 4.7 - 2017-04-05]
NET471[.NET Framework 4.7.1 - 2017-10-17]
NET472[.NET Framework 4.7.2 - 2018-04-30]
NET48[.NET Framework 4.8 - 2019-04-18]
NET481[.NET Framework 4.8.1 - 2022-08-09]
NETCoreSplit{".NET Core Split"}
NETCore1[.NET Core 1.0 - 2016-06-27]
NETCore11[.NET Core 1.1 - 2016-11-16]
NETCore2[.NET Core 2.0 - 2017-08-14]
NETCore21[".NET Core 2.1 (LTS) - 2018-05-30"]
NETCore22[".NET Core 2.2 - 2018-12-04"]
NETCore3[".NET Core 3.0 - 2019-09-23"]
NETCore31[".NET Core 3.1 (LTS) - 2019-12-03"]
NET5[".NET 5 - 2020-11-10"]
NET6[".NET 6 (LTS) - 2021-11-08"]
NET7[".NET 7 - 2022-11-08"]
NET8[".NET 8 (LTS) - 2023-11-14"]
NET9[".NET 9 - 2024-11-12"]
NETFrameworkDone["(.NET Framework done at this point)"]
MergeIntoDotNet{"Merge .NET Core into .NET"}

Start --> NET46
NET46 --> NET461
NET461 --> NETCoreSplit
NETCoreSplit -->|Framework Path|NET462
NET462 --> NET47
NET47 --> NET471
NET471 --> NET472
NET472 --> NET48
NET48 --> NET481
NET481 --> NETFrameworkDone
NETCoreSplit -->|.NET Core Path|NETCore1
NETCore1 --> NETCore11
NETCore11 --> NETCore2
NETCore2 --> NETCore21
NETCore21 --> NETCore22
NETCore22 --> NETCore3
NETCore3 --> NETCore31
NETCore31 --> MergeIntoDotNet
MergeIntoDotNet-->|Going Forward|NET5
NET5 --> NET6
NET6 --> NET7
NET7 --> NET8
NET8 --> NET9

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Visual timeline:

timeline
    title .NET Through the Ages
    section .NET Framework Era
    2002 : .NET Framework 1.0 : .NET Framework 1.0 SP1 : .NET Framework 1.0 SP2
    2003 : .NET Framework 1.1
    2004 : .NET Framework 1.0 SP3 : .NET Framework 1.1 SP1
    2005 : .NET Framework 2.0
    2006 : .NET Framework 3.0
    2007 : .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 : .NET Framework 3.0 SP1 : .NET Framework 3.5
    2008 : .NET Framework 2.0 SP2 : .NET Framework 3.0 SP2 : .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
    2010 : .NET Framework 4.0
    2012 : .NET Framework 4.5
    2013 : .NET Framework 4.5.1
    2014 : .NET Framework 4.5.2
    2015 : .NET Framework 4.6 : .NET Framework 4.6.1
    section .NET Core Split Era
    2016 : .NET Core 1.0 : .NET Framework 4.6.2 : .NET Core 1.1
    2017 : .NET Framework 4.7 : .NET Core 2.0 : .NET Framework 4.7.1
    2018 : .NET Framework 4.7.2 : .NET Core 2.1 (LTS) : .NET Core 2.2
    2019 : .NET Framework 4.8 : .NET Core 3.0 : .NET Core 3.1 (LTS)
    section Unified ".NET" (from .NET Core)
    2020 : .NET 5
    2021 : .NET 6
    2022 : .NET Framework 4.8.1 (final) : .NET 7
    2023 : .NET 8
    2024 : .NET 9

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