dotInsights | January 2025

Rachel Appel

Did you know? The Y2K bug, or “Millennium Bug,” was a programming issue caused by storing years with only two digits (e.g., “1999” as “99”) to save memory. As 2000 approached, systems risked interpreting “00” as 1900, leading to potential errors in calculations and data processing.

Fears of disruptions in critical systems like banking and utilities prompted a global effort to update software. In the end, the fixes worked, and major issues were avoided.

If you started your dev career later, have you wondered what it was like to be a programmer in the 90’s?

Welcome to dotInsights by JetBrains! This newsletter is the home for recent .NET and software development related information.

🌟 Featured Content

The .NET advocates have been wondering if AI can accurately predict computing trends, since AI is still a hot technology. So this month, we bring you featured content from JetBrains AI!

Here’s what we asked: “How do you see .NET and C# evolving in 2025? Tell me some predictions. Keep it between 400-500 words and cite your reasons why.”

? Predicting the evolution of .NET and C# by 2025 involves examining current trends, Microsoft’s strategy, and the broader software development landscape. Here’s what we might expect:

1. Continued Expansion of .NET 7/8 Unified Platform

By 2025, the unified nature of the .NET platform introduced starting from .NET 5 should become more robust and expansive. Microsoft has been consolidating frameworks like .NET Core, Xamarin, and the traditional .NET Framework into a singular platform. This means developers will have more seamless experiences across web, mobile, desktop, and cloud apps. Expect more refined cross-platform development tools, greater performance optimization, and deeper integration with languages like C#.

Reason: The push for cross-platform compatibility remains strong, given the heterogeneous environment of devices and operating systems. The success of frameworks like Flutter and innovations in Rust could nudge Microsoft to double down on a unified framework that remains competitive.

2. Significant Enhancements to C# and AI-Driven Development

C# is already recognized for its features that embrace developer productivity, like nullability annotations, pattern matching, and asynchronous programming. By 2025, we can expect C# to integrate more systems programming features without compromising ease of use. Additionally, AI-driven tools powered by GitHub Copilot or Azure AI will likely influence the language itself, incorporating features tailored for predictive code generation and error-proofing.

Reason: The growth of AI tools is fundamentally altering how developers write code. Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI, GitHub Copilot, and Visual Studio tooling suggests advanced AI models will integrate tightly, making C# a “smart-first” language for enterprise applications.

3. Focus on Cloud-Native and Microservices with .NET

Cloud computing is dominating software infrastructure, and .NET has been enhancing its support for cloud-native development alongside technologies like Docker and Kubernetes. By 2025, we should see streamlined microservice development features and tools baked into .NET for increased scalability, including native support for multi-cloud architectures.

Reason: Enterprises continue to adopt the cloud en masse, and platforms must adapt to support distributed systems and containerization. Microsoft’s Azure ecosystem will likely drive these .NET innovations.

4. More Emphasis on Blazor and WebAssembly

Blazor, which allows developers to write full-stack web apps using C#, is likely to mature further by 2025. With the rising popularity of WebAssembly (Wasm), Blazor could become central to creating lightweight, high-performing web applications.

Reason: WebAssembly adoption is broadening thanks to its ability to bring near-native performance to web applications. .NET will need Blazor to directly compete with JavaScript-based frameworks like React or Vue while gaining ground with C# expertise.

5. Game Development and Emerging Ecosystem Use Cases

The acquisition of Activision Blizzard emphasizes Microsoft’s interest in gaming. By 2025, .NET and C# may expand their foothold in game development, potentially challenging Unity (which relies on C#). At the same time, .NET could be increasingly used in IoT, VR/AR, and edge computing.

Reason: Gaming and immersive applications represent fertile ground for C#. Direct investments in this area align with Microsoft’s broader goals to diversify .NET usage.

Conclusion

By 2025, .NET and C# will likely evolve to become more cloud-native, smarter, and better optimized for performance across platforms. This evolution reflects Microsoft’s broader ambitions in cloud computing, AI, gaming, and developer productivity. With its strong community and enterprise focus, these technologies are poised to remain a force in modern software development.

Beep boop. 🤖

So that’s it! In a year’s time we’ll know what’s accurate and what’s not. Keep in mind that gen AI is a statistical prediction algorithm, so it should be giving us statistically significant results. Only time will tell.

🔗 Links

Here’s the latest from the developer community.

• Incremental Software Design FOR REAL | TDD Code Demo in C# – Emily Bache
• Understanding SOLID Principles – Leomaris Reyes
• LINQ might get a “left join” operator in .net 10 – Steven Giesel
• 10 Surprising Lessons Software Developers Can Learn From ‘Factfulness’ – Gui Ferreira
• CRUD APIs are Poor Design – CodeOpinion by Derek Comartin
• Yes, Software Engineers MUST Know SQL – Nick Chapsas
• Rider is now FREE, My 7 MUST KNOW features – Raw Coding by Anton Wieslander
• Michael Feathers on Working with Legacy Code [EPISODE 833] – Technology and Friends by David Giard
• Alpine.Js Polling ASP.NET Core APIs For Updates – Khalid Abuhakmeh
• C# Advent Calendar 2024 – Uno Platform on Mac with JetBrains Rider – Costoda
• C# 13 and .NET 9: Personal Highlights – Dmytro Misik
• Chain of Responsibility Design Pattern in C# – Ahsan Ullah
• More Testing Tips With C# – Roman Stoffel
• Extracting Icons From A Windows DLL Or EXE With C# – Den Delimarsky
• Are Your ASP.NET Core Routes and Query Strings Culture-Invariant? – Jeremy Clark
• Chain of Responsibility Design Pattern in C# – Ahsan Ullah
• Object Pools in C#: Examples, Internals and Performance Benchmarks – Alexey Fedorov
• A Game in F#? Why, yes indeed. – Tim Knauf
• Architecting self-coordinating IoT systems for reliability and resilience with .NET and SignalR – Fiodar Sazanavets
• AdditionalAuthorizationParameters in ASP.NET Core 9 – Tore Nestenius

☕ Coffee Break

Take a break to catch some fun social posts.

File types hanging out…

🗞️ JetBrains News

What’s going on at JetBrains? Check it out here:

🎉 Big News for .NET and Game Devs: Rider Is Now Free for Non-Commercial Use  🎉

• Share Your Insights on Using Rider and Win a Prize!
• ReSharper 2024.3: Day-One C# 13 Support, Streamlined Code Cleanup, and Enhanced C++ Tools
• dotCover, dotMemory, dotPeek, and dotTrace 2024.3 Have Been Released!
• Rider 2024.3: Same-Day Support for .NET 9 SDK and C# 13, Console Debugging for Game Dev, AI Enhancements, and More

✉️ Comments? Questions? Send us an  email. 

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