{"slug": "net", "name": ".NET", "category": "dev-libs", "category_name": "Libraries and frameworks", "description": "Microsoft's open-source, cross-platform developer platform and runtime for C#, F#, and VB.NET applications.", "recommenders": 20, "commenters": 32, "warners": 8, "score": 11.902, "rising": 2.42, "first": "2025-11-03", "latest": "2026-10-29", "why": "Liked for a rich, batteries-included ecosystem and tooling, smooth cross-platform development on macOS and Linux, and EF Core working well with non-Microsoft databases.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 21, "neutral": 4, "compare": 0, "warn": 8}, "spark": [7, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 2, 1, 3, 3], "listed": true, "loved": ["Ecosystem and tooling", "Cross-platform"], "caveat": "Microsoft distrust", "short_quote": "Dotnet is an incredible platform ahead of its time. I use it for everything and never get disappointed.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://dotnet.microsoft.com/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": [".NET"], "verdict": [{"text": "Liked for a rich, batteries-included ecosystem and tooling", "cites": [{"id": 802133590, "item_id": 50133349, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50133349", "by": "harshalizee", "date": "2026-10-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The dotnet ecosystem is so well developed and rich", "excerpt": "You would severely limit yourself if you're strict about your list without nuance. GitHub is pretty much bog standard in most companies unless you're working for the few using mercurial, etc. I work in a MS stack and most of your list is untrue for my case. We use slack for messaging, Confluence, Wikimedia, and GDrive for documentation, Google Mail for email, I develop primarily dotnet/C# apps on a MacBook pro M5, ha", "context": "works in an MS-stack company as a dotnet developer", "use_case": "C# application development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Teams is a red flag"}, {"id": 776380784, "item_id": 48523799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48523799", "by": "moron4hire", "date": "2026-06-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the whole system of tooling in .NET has never left me feeling like I was pigeonholed into doing things in stupid, self-flagelating ways", "excerpt": "It's this sort of stuff that leaves me scratching my head why people like Python so much. I hear them say they prefer the syntax and personally I feel like that's such a small part of the holistic experience of working with any particular language. It's one of the reasons why I gave up on C++ years ago for .NET, the whole system of tooling in .NET has never left me feeling like I was pigeonholed into doing things in ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "C++", "story": "Python 3.14 garbage collection rigamarole"}, {"id": 734370560, "item_id": 45898160, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45898160", "by": "DeathArrow", "date": "2025-11-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love C# and .NET and I use them extensively", "excerpt": ">I wish .NET was more popular among startups, if only C# could get rid of the \"enterpisey\" stigma. I love C# and .NET and I use them extensively but I dislike the fact that the framework still kind of forces you into OOP. If you like to have a more functional workflow you have to roll your own stuff or wrap objects in functional constructs. But .NET is excellent for startups because: -it is very fast to develop in -h", "context": "extensive .NET user", "use_case": "startup development", "switched_from": "", "story": ".NET 10"}, {"id": 784999984, "item_id": 49062499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49062499", "by": "hecreto", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "People should really give .NET a try.", "excerpt": "Not to be a downer since a lot of JEvans\u2019 content is great. People should really give .NET a try. I don\u2019t know if we are just old greybeard curmudgeons who look at this and go \u201cis this a new thing? haven\u2019t we been doing this for decades?\u201d, but .NET out of the box with a few packages for databases, logging, etc is so pleasant you don\u2019t even think about it. Maybe it\u2019s just not a vocal community idk.", "context": "", "use_case": "web development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Some more things about Django I've been enjoying"}]}, {"text": ", smooth cross-platform development on macOS and Linux", "cites": [{"id": 795848689, "item_id": 49740543, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49740543", "by": "paulirwin", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I do nearly 100% of my .NET development on macOS", "excerpt": "It is different. I do nearly 100% of my .NET development on macOS, only dropping into Windows to support .NET Framework users of open-source projects I work on, and we deploy exclusively now on Linux containers. The apps I maintain haven't touched a Windows server in years. My colleagues (and OSS co-maintainers) use a mix of macOS, Windows, and Linux. I use Rider instead of Visual Studio. The only time I've been forc", "context": "open-source maintainer", "use_case": "development and Linux container deployment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11"}, {"id": 795791537, "item_id": 49736971, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49736971", "by": "littlecranky67", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "every since it is xplat and unified (.NET 5 probably) it is a real joy.", "excerpt": "Not sure when your last foray into the .NET ecosystem was, but every since it is xplat and unified (.NET 5 probably) it is a real joy. I use VSCode as IDE for C# on my mac, and deploy to Linux.", "context": ".NET developer on Mac", "use_case": "cross-platform development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11"}, {"id": 743696932, "item_id": 46481058, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46481058", "by": "lkglglgllm", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Dotnet and powershell (pwsh) actually works better in both macos and in Linux, than in windows.", "excerpt": "Heavily invested in Microsoft tech, but not using windows. At all. Couldn\u2019t be happier. Due to word being too buggy, I switched to libre office in windows. Local outlook was also too buggy in windows, I ended up running the web version. Switched to vscode b/c VS was to buggy and slow. Teams works better in macos. Web version of teams is ok in Linux, you don\u2019t want to run the native app in windows, it\u2019s a resource hog", "context": "", "use_case": "development", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop"}]}, {"text": ", and EF Core working well with non-Microsoft databases.", "cites": [{"id": 795802035, "item_id": 49737627, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49737627", "by": "qingcharles", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": ".NET works so absolutely well with every other DB", "excerpt": "I can't even remember the last time I used MSSQL with .NET. I'm embarrassed that I worked on projects now that were paying huge sums for licenses when .NET works so absolutely well with every other DB. These days I just use EF with Sqlite on 99% of my projects.", "context": ".NET developer", "use_case": "application development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11"}, {"id": 736893872, "item_id": 46055867, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46055867", "by": "littlecranky67", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Modern .NET is awesome.", "excerpt": "Modern .NET is awesome. In a small side hustle project, I develop a REST API Backend in C# on my macOS using VSCode, and deploy it to Linux for the past 3 years without any issues. I use SQLite, EFCore, Minimal APIs and it is a delight compared to the frontend part - which is NextJS/React/MaterialUI with 50+ (dev-)packages in npm.", "context": "side hustle project developer", "use_case": "REST API backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Reinventing how .NET builds and ships (again)"}, {"id": 769011376, "item_id": 48063211, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48063211", "by": "codegeek", "date": "2026-05-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I prefer .NET for web development that also compiles to a binary and has a great ecosystem of libraries and packages", "excerpt": "I love Go. But I prefer .NET for web development that also compiles to a binary and has a great ecosystem of libraries and packages. Go is great if standard library works (and it can for many cases) but when you need to start looking into non standard libraries, Go can hit limitations. For example, to build a full production web application with database in Go, there is no great out of the box migration tool. There a", "context": "", "use_case": "web development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Just Fucking Use Go"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaints are distrust of Microsoft's stewardship", "cites": [{"id": 739833728, "item_id": 46239608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46239608", "by": "eek2121", "date": "2025-12-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Microsoft's response to this bug alone have turned me off to the language and framework.", "excerpt": "Well, that was a wild read. I'm surprised it isn't getting more traction. So, full disclosure, I'm no longer a developer due to disabilities, including one that keep me from being able to write code, however: I love C# and .NET, and a good portion of my early career was working with C#, .NET, and SOAP. That being said, Microsoft's response to this bug alone have turned me off to the language and framework. They clear", "context": "former developer, no longer codes due to disabilities", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "SOAPwn: Pwning .NET Framework Applications Through HTTP Client Proxies and WSDL"}, {"id": 737006432, "item_id": 46062902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46062902", "by": "kgwxd", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "will never recommend anyone ever touch anything MS has any part in", "excerpt": "I love it. Been using it professionally since the beginning. I owe my entire career to it. This year, I've switched to Go for all projects moving forward, and will never recommend anyone ever touch anything MS has any part in.", "context": "used it professionally for years", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Why aren't more startups using .NET?"}, {"id": 782900464, "item_id": 48931279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48931279", "by": "peter_retief", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I love Go but am not a fan of .NET", "excerpt": "I love Go but am not a fan of .NET Have to ask what is the point of .NET is it even needed being the navel gazing MS fraternity?", "context": "Go fan", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "G# \u2013 A modern .NET language with Go, Kotlin, and Swift ergonomics"}]}, {"text": " and memory or garbage-collector overhead.", "cites": [{"id": 797422160, "item_id": 49838885, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49838885", "by": "metaltyphoon", "date": "2026-09-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We use .NET 10 at work and see 1/5th of the memory being used by a ported Rust service.", "excerpt": "> I think the perf jump from Ruby to Rust is much greater than .NET Core to Rust This has not been true for me. If you are constrained by memory, you will still come out better using Rust, even if you use C# with AOT. We use .NET 10 at work and see 1/5th of the memory being used by a ported Rust service. Your mileage may vary.", "context": "", "use_case": "backend services", "switched_from": "", "story": "Rails World 2026 Opening Keynote [video]"}, {"id": 777551104, "item_id": 48596944, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596944", "by": "pregnenolone", "date": "2026-06-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "And then, there's .NET's simplistic garbage collector, which can be quite annoying", "excerpt": "Looking into the negative comments is quite amusing. Not only do most of them contain technical inaccuracies, but of course, they also need to mention how great .NET supposedly has been from the beginning and how Java supposedly copied everything. Let's take a stroll down memory lane. First of all, .NET literally started as a Java copy. On top of it, a non-cross-platform one for almost two decades! After having shame", "context": "previously worked in a .NET shop", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Project Valhalla, Explained: How a Decade of Work Arrives in JDK 28"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Ecosystem and tooling", "summary": "Commenters say it is batteries-included, with strong tooling, standard package and build tools, and good documentation.", "quotes": [{"id": 734370560, "item_id": 45898160, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45898160", "by": "DeathArrow", "date": "2025-11-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love C# and .NET and I use them extensively", "excerpt": ">I wish .NET was more popular among startups, if only C# could get rid of the \"enterpisey\" stigma. I love C# and .NET and I use them extensively but I dislike the fact that the framework still kind of forces you into OOP. If you like to have a more functional workflow you have to roll your own stuff or wrap objects in functional constructs. But .NET is excellent for startups because: -it is very fast to develop in -h", "context": "extensive .NET user", "use_case": "startup development", "switched_from": "", "story": ".NET 10"}, {"id": 776380784, "item_id": 48523799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48523799", "by": "moron4hire", "date": "2026-06-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the whole system of tooling in .NET has never left me feeling like I was pigeonholed into doing things in stupid, self-flagelating ways", "excerpt": "It's this sort of stuff that leaves me scratching my head why people like Python so much. I hear them say they prefer the syntax and personally I feel like that's such a small part of the holistic experience of working with any particular language. It's one of the reasons why I gave up on C++ years ago for .NET, the whole system of tooling in .NET has never left me feeling like I was pigeonholed into doing things in ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "C++", "story": "Python 3.14 garbage collection rigamarole"}, {"id": 802133590, "item_id": 50133349, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50133349", "by": "harshalizee", "date": "2026-10-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The dotnet ecosystem is so well developed and rich", "excerpt": "You would severely limit yourself if you're strict about your list without nuance. GitHub is pretty much bog standard in most companies unless you're working for the few using mercurial, etc. I work in a MS stack and most of your list is untrue for my case. We use slack for messaging, Confluence, Wikimedia, and GDrive for documentation, Google Mail for email, I develop primarily dotnet/C# apps on a MacBook pro M5, ha", "context": "works in an MS-stack company as a dotnet developer", "use_case": "C# application development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Teams is a red flag"}]}, {"label": "Cross-platform", "summary": "Developers report working on macOS and deploying to Linux without trouble since the unified .NET releases.", "quotes": [{"id": 795848689, "item_id": 49740543, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49740543", "by": "paulirwin", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I do nearly 100% of my .NET development on macOS", "excerpt": "It is different. I do nearly 100% of my .NET development on macOS, only dropping into Windows to support .NET Framework users of open-source projects I work on, and we deploy exclusively now on Linux containers. The apps I maintain haven't touched a Windows server in years. My colleagues (and OSS co-maintainers) use a mix of macOS, Windows, and Linux. I use Rider instead of Visual Studio. The only time I've been forc", "context": "open-source maintainer", "use_case": "development and Linux container deployment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11"}, {"id": 795791537, "item_id": 49736971, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49736971", "by": "littlecranky67", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "every since it is xplat and unified (.NET 5 probably) it is a real joy.", "excerpt": "Not sure when your last foray into the .NET ecosystem was, but every since it is xplat and unified (.NET 5 probably) it is a real joy. I use VSCode as IDE for C# on my mac, and deploy to Linux.", "context": ".NET developer on Mac", "use_case": "cross-platform development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11"}, {"id": 743696932, "item_id": 46481058, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46481058", "by": "lkglglgllm", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Dotnet and powershell (pwsh) actually works better in both macos and in Linux, than in windows.", "excerpt": "Heavily invested in Microsoft tech, but not using windows. At all. Couldn\u2019t be happier. Due to word being too buggy, I switched to libre office in windows. Local outlook was also too buggy in windows, I ended up running the web version. Switched to vscode b/c VS was to buggy and slow. Teams works better in macos. Web version of teams is ok in Linux, you don\u2019t want to run the native app in windows, it\u2019s a resource hog", "context": "", "use_case": "development", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop"}]}, {"label": "EF Core and databases", "summary": "EF Core is praised, and commenters say it works well with SQLite, Postgres and other non-MSSQL databases.", "quotes": [{"id": 795802035, "item_id": 49737627, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49737627", "by": "qingcharles", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": ".NET works so absolutely well with every other DB", "excerpt": "I can't even remember the last time I used MSSQL with .NET. I'm embarrassed that I worked on projects now that were paying huge sums for licenses when .NET works so absolutely well with every other DB. These days I just use EF with Sqlite on 99% of my projects.", "context": ".NET developer", "use_case": "application development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11"}, {"id": 769011376, "item_id": 48063211, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48063211", "by": "codegeek", "date": "2026-05-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I prefer .NET for web development that also compiles to a binary and has a great ecosystem of libraries and packages", "excerpt": "I love Go. But I prefer .NET for web development that also compiles to a binary and has a great ecosystem of libraries and packages. Go is great if standard library works (and it can for many cases) but when you need to start looking into non standard libraries, Go can hit limitations. For example, to build a full production web application with database in Go, there is no great out of the box migration tool. There a", "context": "", "use_case": "web development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Just Fucking Use Go"}, {"id": 795840528, "item_id": 49740033, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49740033", "by": "osigurdson", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used .NET for many years with Postgres on a huge project.", "excerpt": "I used .NET for many years with Postgres on a huge project. Honestly, I don't know what you mean. Can you break down \"Everything\" a little. What is it that expects MSSQL? Who are the thought leaders pushing it? I'd say Microsoft's revenue related push with .NET these days is to try to subtly nudge you into Azure (where MSSQL is rare and Windows is virtually non-existent). But, I also think they know they will kill .N", "context": "", "use_case": "large project development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11"}]}, {"label": "Good for startups", "summary": "Commenters say it is fast to develop in and that a team switched to it smoothly from TypeScript.", "quotes": [{"id": 734387937, "item_id": 45899246, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45899246", "by": "CharlieDigital", "date": "2025-11-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I think more teams should give C# a shot.", "excerpt": "I'm at a series-C, YC startup. We made a switch from TypeScript to C# two months back. Now we have a team of over a dozen backend engineers working on C# transitioning from TypeScript. 90% are working with C# for the first time. (We are still hiring backend C# engs!) I can say that it has gone waaaaaay smoother than anyone would have thought. This is a decision (language switch) that the team has been putting off for", "context": "series-C YC startup engineer switching from TypeScript to C#", "use_case": "backend development", "switched_from": "", "story": ".NET 10"}, {"id": 735797440, "item_id": 45987340, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45987340", "by": "teddyalbina", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Dotnet is an incredible platform ahead of its time. I use it for everything and never get disappointed.", "excerpt": "Dotnet is an incredible platform ahead of its time. I use it for everything and never get disappointed. Also, i'm currently building a startup and everything is dotnet.", "context": "building a startup", "use_case": "startup development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Programming the Commodore 64 with .NET"}, {"id": 734370560, "item_id": 45898160, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45898160", "by": "DeathArrow", "date": "2025-11-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love C# and .NET and I use them extensively", "excerpt": ">I wish .NET was more popular among startups, if only C# could get rid of the \"enterpisey\" stigma. I love C# and .NET and I use them extensively but I dislike the fact that the framework still kind of forces you into OOP. If you like to have a more functional workflow you have to roll your own stuff or wrap objects in functional constructs. But .NET is excellent for startups because: -it is very fast to develop in -h", "context": "extensive .NET user", "use_case": "startup development", "switched_from": "", "story": ".NET 10"}]}, {"label": "Established patterns", "summary": "Its well-known patterns like DI and ASP.NET Core help AI agents produce properly architected code.", "quotes": [{"id": 802224688, "item_id": 50139043, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50139043", "by": "jdthedisciple", "date": "2026-10-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use SOTA models with established stacks like .NET", "excerpt": "> The problem with AI SE is that AI writes un-architecture-ed code Not necessarily. I use SOTA models with established stacks like .NET which allow my agent to easily follow decades of best practiced patterns (DI, EF Core, ASP.NET Core...) so you still and up with proper architecture. In fact I can easily still manually inspect everything bc I already know how it's supposed to be written.", "context": "", "use_case": "AI-assisted app development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Sphinx \u2013 A hook that quizzes you on your AI's code before shipping"}]}, {"label": "Performance and AOT", "summary": "Modern .NET is called fast, and native AOT single binaries have improved in .NET 10.", "quotes": [{"id": 742670721, "item_id": 46416920, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46416920", "by": "iliketrains", "date": "2025-12-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Modern .NET is fast", "excerpt": "Author here, thanks for your perspective. Here some thoughts: > approach of separating the simulation and presentation layers isn't all that uncommon I agree that some level of separation is is not that uncommon, but games usually depend on things from their respective engine, especially on things like datatypes (e.g. Vector3) or math libraries. The reason I mention that our game is unique in this way is that its non", "context": "game developer, author of the post", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Unity's Mono problem: Why your C# code runs slower than it should"}, {"id": 734356993, "item_id": 45897312, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45897312", "by": "mrcsharp", "date": "2025-11-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This has gotten so much better with .NET 10 and since the introduction of source generators", "excerpt": "C# has AOT compilation which creates a single, native binary. This has gotten so much better with .NET 10 and since the introduction of source generators to deal with reflection issues. Also, check out nanoFramework for a .NET runtime that can run on MCUs like the ESP32 [1] [1] https://github.com/nanoframework/Home", "context": "", "use_case": "AOT native binaries", "switched_from": "", "story": ".NET MAUI is coming to Linux and the browser"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Microsoft distrust", "summary": "Some commenters left over Microsoft's handling of a security bug or general distrust of Microsoft.", "quotes": [{"id": 739833728, "item_id": 46239608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46239608", "by": "eek2121", "date": "2025-12-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Microsoft's response to this bug alone have turned me off to the language and framework.", "excerpt": "Well, that was a wild read. I'm surprised it isn't getting more traction. So, full disclosure, I'm no longer a developer due to disabilities, including one that keep me from being able to write code, however: I love C# and .NET, and a good portion of my early career was working with C#, .NET, and SOAP. That being said, Microsoft's response to this bug alone have turned me off to the language and framework. They clear", "context": "former developer, no longer codes due to disabilities", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "SOAPwn: Pwning .NET Framework Applications Through HTTP Client Proxies and WSDL"}, {"id": 737006432, "item_id": 46062902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46062902", "by": "kgwxd", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "will never recommend anyone ever touch anything MS has any part in", "excerpt": "I love it. Been using it professionally since the beginning. I owe my entire career to it. This year, I've switched to Go for all projects moving forward, and will never recommend anyone ever touch anything MS has any part in.", "context": "used it professionally for years", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Why aren't more startups using .NET?"}, {"id": 782900464, "item_id": 48931279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48931279", "by": "peter_retief", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I love Go but am not a fan of .NET", "excerpt": "I love Go but am not a fan of .NET Have to ask what is the point of .NET is it even needed being the navel gazing MS fraternity?", "context": "Go fan", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "G# \u2013 A modern .NET language with Go, Kotlin, and Swift ergonomics"}]}, {"label": "Memory and GC", "summary": "One team saw much higher memory use than a ported Rust service, and another commenter calls the garbage collector simplistic.", "quotes": [{"id": 797422160, "item_id": 49838885, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49838885", "by": "metaltyphoon", "date": "2026-09-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We use .NET 10 at work and see 1/5th of the memory being used by a ported Rust service.", "excerpt": "> I think the perf jump from Ruby to Rust is much greater than .NET Core to Rust This has not been true for me. If you are constrained by memory, you will still come out better using Rust, even if you use C# with AOT. We use .NET 10 at work and see 1/5th of the memory being used by a ported Rust service. Your mileage may vary.", "context": "", "use_case": "backend services", "switched_from": "", "story": "Rails World 2026 Opening Keynote [video]"}, {"id": 777551104, "item_id": 48596944, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596944", "by": "pregnenolone", "date": "2026-06-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "And then, there's .NET's simplistic garbage collector, which can be quite annoying", "excerpt": "Looking into the negative comments is quite amusing. Not only do most of them contain technical inaccuracies, but of course, they also need to mention how great .NET supposedly has been from the beginning and how Java supposedly copied everything. Let's take a stroll down memory lane. First of all, .NET literally started as a Java copy. On top of it, a non-cross-platform one for almost two decades! After having shame", "context": "previously worked in a .NET shop", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Project Valhalla, Explained: How a Decade of Work Arrives in JDK 28"}]}, {"label": "Upgrade churn", "summary": "One developer tired of constantly upgrading .NET versions and disliked that the debugger is not open source.", "quotes": [{"id": 781501776, "item_id": 48843861, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48843861", "by": "ultimaweapon", "date": "2026-07-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I tired of keeping upgrade .NET on my projects.", "excerpt": "Not the author but I also moved from C# to Rust. In the first place I did not consider Rust for C# works like REST API but after I proficient with Rust I no longer want to work with C# for the following reasons: 1. Microsoft don't want to open source .NET Core debugger. 2. I tired of keeping upgrade .NET on my projects. 3. Result type in Rust make me more productive than exception in .NET. 4. async/await in Rust is l", "context": "moved from C# to Rust", "use_case": "REST API development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Rewriting Bun in Rust"}]}, {"label": "Declining demand", "summary": "Commenters report fewer RFPs asking for .NET and job markets dominated by legacy .NET Framework shops.", "quotes": [{"id": 781924512, "item_id": 48870282, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48870282", "by": "pjmlp", "date": "2026-07-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the RFPs asking for .NET have gone down, even key enterprise products like Sitecore, have moved away from .NET.", "excerpt": "Not really, going open seems to only helped Microsoft shops to migrate to Linux for deployments, thus saving on server licences. I work in a polyglot agency, and the RFPs asking for .NET have gone down, even key enterprise products like Sitecore, have moved away from .NET.", "context": "works in a polyglot agency", "use_case": "enterprise development", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Lindy Effect in Software"}, {"id": 734376480, "item_id": 45898530, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45898530", "by": "Arisaka1", "date": "2025-11-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I enjoy working with modern C# way more than node.js", "excerpt": "Every time I read about new .NET version improvements I always remember my attempt to get a job using this stack in my local job market (Greece), where .NET Framework is super prevalent, majorly used by classic companies that don't even give you a fair technical chance if you lack a degree, and the devs are considered to be a cost center. I really, REALLY wish I was in another timeline where I could say in an intervi", "context": "job seeker in Greece", "use_case": "software development", "switched_from": "", "story": ".NET 10"}]}, {"label": "OOP-centric", "summary": "The framework still nudges developers toward OOP, so functional styles need extra work.", "quotes": [{"id": 734370560, "item_id": 45898160, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45898160", "by": "DeathArrow", "date": "2025-11-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love C# and .NET and I use them extensively", "excerpt": ">I wish .NET was more popular among startups, if only C# could get rid of the \"enterpisey\" stigma. I love C# and .NET and I use them extensively but I dislike the fact that the framework still kind of forces you into OOP. If you like to have a more functional workflow you have to roll your own stuff or wrap objects in functional constructs. But .NET is excellent for startups because: -it is very fast to develop in -h", "context": "extensive .NET user", "use_case": "startup development", "switched_from": "", "story": ".NET 10"}]}, {"label": "Legacy reputation", "summary": "Older experiences describe early .NET as slow or a poor replacement for prior tools.", "quotes": [{"id": 759704080, "item_id": 47481505, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481505", "by": "hyperpl", "date": "2026-03-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "did learn about .NET and how slow it was", "excerpt": "I used to code Win32 around the Win 95/98/2000 era (my first VC++ was 1.0 for 16bit) but switched to BSD and Linux around 2000 and haven't looked back. I avoid Windows as much as possible and did learn about .NET and how slow it was but I'm a bit shocked that Win32 is still a thing and still being recommended. Sort of makes me happy and sad at the same time...", "context": "Former Win32 developer, now BSD and Linux user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows native app development is a mess"}, {"id": 796956849, "item_id": 49809803, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49809803", "by": "Kuyawa", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "all that power and user love was dumped in the trash can for the travesti that was .net at the time", "excerpt": "Oh nostalgia, dbase, clipper, clarion, foxbase, delphi, I loved VFP so much, not for the language but for the tools, the screen designer, the db browser, the sql queries, all that power and user love was dumped in the trash can for the travesti that was .net at the time I learned VB.net, C# and even F# to see if they surpassed in any sense my beloved VFP but no, I felt so betrayed I decided to migrate to a galaxy far", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft killed FoxPro in 2007. Anyway, here's FoxPro revived"}]}], "who": [{"by": "x3haloed", "context": "C# developer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50292339", "date": "2026-10-29"}, {"by": "ourmandave", "context": ".NET developer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50287662", "date": "2026-10-29"}, {"by": "harshalizee", "context": "works in an MS-stack company as a dotnet developer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50133349", "date": "2026-10-17"}, {"by": "paulirwin", "context": "open-source maintainer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49740543", "date": "2026-09-17"}, {"by": "qingcharles", "context": ".NET developer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49737627", "date": "2026-09-17"}, {"by": "littlecranky67", "context": ".NET developer on Mac", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49736971", "date": "2026-09-17"}, {"by": "rednb", "context": "builds line of business applications for a living", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49487279", "date": "2026-08-29"}, {"by": "iliketrains", "context": "game developer, author of the post", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46416920", "date": "2025-12-28"}, {"by": "teddyalbina", "context": "building a startup", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45987340", "date": "2025-11-19"}, {"by": "CharlieDigital", "context": "series-C YC startup engineer switching from TypeScript to C#", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45899246", "date": "2025-11-12"}, {"by": "Arisaka1", "context": "job seeker in Greece", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45898530", "date": "2025-11-12"}, {"by": "DeathArrow", "context": "extensive .NET user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45898160", "date": "2025-11-12"}], "tags": ["for web backends", "for startups", "for macOS and Linux developers", "for line-of-business apps", "for game development"], "use_cases": ["application development", "development", "web development", "startup development", "ai-assisted app development", "c# application development"], "compared": [{"slug": "visual-studio-code", "name": "Visual Studio Code", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ef-core", "name": "EF Core", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "microsoft-sql-server", "name": "Microsoft SQL Server", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "azure", "name": "Azure", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "sqlite", "name": "SQLite", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "jetbrains-rider", "name": "JetBrains Rider", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "powershell", "name": "PowerShell", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "node-js", "name": "Node.js", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49711424", "title": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45888620", "title": ".NET 10", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50289162", "title": "Why are good developers so wary of agentic development?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50282454", "title": "StackOverflow now gets fewer than 1000 questions a month", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50137950", "title": "Show HN: Sphinx \u2013 A hook that quizzes you on your AI's code before shipping", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50130228", "title": "Microsoft Teams is a red flag", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 7, "warn": 1}, "2025-12": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"warn": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 2, "warn": 1}, "2026-07": {"warn": 3, "recommend": 2}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 2, "warn": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804677424, "item_id": 50292339, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50292339", "by": "x3haloed", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've read enough of the .NET Core framework to understand some of the nuances", "excerpt": "Honestly, I see good points in both of your comment sets. But there really is a floor on how deeply a person can understand their own software. There has to be a \"good enough\" somewhere. As a C# dev, I can understand my entire codebase pretty deeply. And I've read enough of the .NET Core framework to understand some of the nuances of how a lot of the methods we rely on every day are implemented. But I've never once l", "context": "C# developer", "use_case": "application development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why are good developers so wary of agentic development?"}, {"id": 804602592, "item_id": 50287662, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50287662", "by": "ourmandave", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use .NET", "excerpt": "Some sort of version number would help. I use .NET and if the most current answer is on a question asked 15 years ago, I'll never see it.", "context": ".NET developer", "use_case": "development", "switched_from": "", "story": "StackOverflow now gets fewer than 1000 questions a month"}, {"id": 802224688, "item_id": 50139043, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50139043", "by": "jdthedisciple", "date": "2026-10-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use SOTA models with established stacks like .NET", "excerpt": "> The problem with AI SE is that AI writes un-architecture-ed code Not necessarily. I use SOTA models with established stacks like .NET which allow my agent to easily follow decades of best practiced patterns (DI, EF Core, ASP.NET Core...) so you still and up with proper architecture. In fact I can easily still manually inspect everything bc I already know how it's supposed to be written.", "context": "", "use_case": "AI-assisted app development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Sphinx \u2013 A hook that quizzes you on your AI's code before shipping"}, {"id": 802133590, "item_id": 50133349, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50133349", "by": "harshalizee", "date": "2026-10-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The dotnet ecosystem is so well developed and rich", "excerpt": "You would severely limit yourself if you're strict about your list without nuance. GitHub is pretty much bog standard in most companies unless you're working for the few using mercurial, etc. I work in a MS stack and most of your list is untrue for my case. We use slack for messaging, Confluence, Wikimedia, and GDrive for documentation, Google Mail for email, I develop primarily dotnet/C# apps on a MacBook pro M5, ha", "context": "works in an MS-stack company as a dotnet developer", "use_case": "C# application development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Teams is a red flag"}, {"id": 799588784, "item_id": 49974299, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49974299", "by": "giancarlostoro", "date": "2026-10-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "with .NET you can debug a release build, and even do remote debugging", "excerpt": "Thing is with .NET you can debug a release build, and even do remote debugging... So it's all a weird claim to me. Definitely someone who only uses Common Lisp and maybe a language with a less impressive debugging background wrote this article. To be fair, I love Lisp, I dont do a lot with it, though I'm mostly a fan of Racket which is the most modern one outside of maybe Clojure.", "context": "", "use_case": "debugging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why Common Lisp is now the best programming language"}, {"id": 797422160, "item_id": 49838885, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49838885", "by": "metaltyphoon", "date": "2026-09-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We use .NET 10 at work and see 1/5th of the memory being used by a ported Rust service.", "excerpt": "> I think the perf jump from Ruby to Rust is much greater than .NET Core to Rust This has not been true for me. If you are constrained by memory, you will still come out better using Rust, even if you use C# with AOT. We use .NET 10 at work and see 1/5th of the memory being used by a ported Rust service. Your mileage may vary.", "context": "", "use_case": "backend services", "switched_from": "", "story": "Rails World 2026 Opening Keynote [video]"}, {"id": 796956849, "item_id": 49809803, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49809803", "by": "Kuyawa", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "all that power and user love was dumped in the trash can for the travesti that was .net at the time", "excerpt": "Oh nostalgia, dbase, clipper, clarion, foxbase, delphi, I loved VFP so much, not for the language but for the tools, the screen designer, the db browser, the sql queries, all that power and user love was dumped in the trash can for the travesti that was .net at the time I learned VB.net, C# and even F# to see if they surpassed in any sense my beloved VFP but no, I felt so betrayed I decided to migrate to a galaxy far", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft killed FoxPro in 2007. Anyway, here's FoxPro revived"}, {"id": 795848689, "item_id": 49740543, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49740543", "by": "paulirwin", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I do nearly 100% of my .NET development on macOS", "excerpt": "It is different. I do nearly 100% of my .NET development on macOS, only dropping into Windows to support .NET Framework users of open-source projects I work on, and we deploy exclusively now on Linux containers. The apps I maintain haven't touched a Windows server in years. My colleagues (and OSS co-maintainers) use a mix of macOS, Windows, and Linux. I use Rider instead of Visual Studio. The only time I've been forc", "context": "open-source maintainer", "use_case": "development and Linux container deployment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11"}, {"id": 795840528, "item_id": 49740033, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49740033", "by": "osigurdson", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used .NET for many years with Postgres on a huge project.", "excerpt": "I used .NET for many years with Postgres on a huge project. Honestly, I don't know what you mean. Can you break down \"Everything\" a little. What is it that expects MSSQL? Who are the thought leaders pushing it? I'd say Microsoft's revenue related push with .NET these days is to try to subtly nudge you into Azure (where MSSQL is rare and Windows is virtually non-existent). But, I also think they know they will kill .N", "context": "", "use_case": "large project development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11"}, {"id": 795802035, "item_id": 49737627, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49737627", "by": "qingcharles", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": ".NET works so absolutely well with every other DB", "excerpt": "I can't even remember the last time I used MSSQL with .NET. I'm embarrassed that I worked on projects now that were paying huge sums for licenses when .NET works so absolutely well with every other DB. These days I just use EF with Sqlite on 99% of my projects.", "context": ".NET developer", "use_case": "application development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11"}, {"id": 795791537, "item_id": 49736971, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49736971", "by": "littlecranky67", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "every since it is xplat and unified (.NET 5 probably) it is a real joy.", "excerpt": "Not sure when your last foray into the .NET ecosystem was, but every since it is xplat and unified (.NET 5 probably) it is a real joy. I use VSCode as IDE for C# on my mac, and deploy to Linux.", "context": ".NET developer on Mac", "use_case": "cross-platform development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11"}, {"id": 791796466, "item_id": 49487279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49487279", "by": "rednb", "date": "2026-08-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "since i specialize in .NET + angular", "excerpt": "> Here\u2019s the thing: there\u2019s still a place for HTMX. Lots of places. But \u201cbuilding an SPA but not actually and SPA\u201d is not a lane for HTMX. Nor do they promote HTMX for that purpose. Really quite the opposite. > Different tools for different jobs. (Me? I honestly love React, just a more minimal stack. Zustand and TanStack and Vite. No Redux or Next.JS) My concern with is that i build line of business applications for ", "context": "builds line of business applications for a living", "use_case": "customer backends", "switched_from": "", "story": "Htmx 4.0"}, {"id": 784999984, "item_id": 49062499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49062499", "by": "hecreto", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "People should really give .NET a try.", "excerpt": "Not to be a downer since a lot of JEvans\u2019 content is great. People should really give .NET a try. I don\u2019t know if we are just old greybeard curmudgeons who look at this and go \u201cis this a new thing? haven\u2019t we been doing this for decades?\u201d, but .NET out of the box with a few packages for databases, logging, etc is so pleasant you don\u2019t even think about it. Maybe it\u2019s just not a vocal community idk.", "context": "", "use_case": "web development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Some more things about Django I've been enjoying"}, {"id": 784449858, "item_id": 49028116, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49028116", "by": "bob1029", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "All of the following products and services are fantastic in 2026:", "excerpt": "Microsoft is a big place. I recommend focusing on the parts they do well rather than getting tribal. All of the following products and services are fantastic in 2026: Windows Server SQL Server .NET/C#/F#/Nuget Visual Studio [code] SSMS AAD/EntraID Defender DirectX Excel I agree that Teams still kind of sucks and that Azure is a complete dumpster fire of a cloud, on average. But that doesn't mean we should throw the p", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask: Why does everything Microsoft create lately feel fragile and half-baked?"}, {"id": 782900464, "item_id": 48931279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48931279", "by": "peter_retief", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I love Go but am not a fan of .NET", "excerpt": "I love Go but am not a fan of .NET Have to ask what is the point of .NET is it even needed being the navel gazing MS fraternity?", "context": "Go fan", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "G# \u2013 A modern .NET language with Go, Kotlin, and Swift ergonomics"}, {"id": 781924512, "item_id": 48870282, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48870282", "by": "pjmlp", "date": "2026-07-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the RFPs asking for .NET have gone down, even key enterprise products like Sitecore, have moved away from .NET.", "excerpt": "Not really, going open seems to only helped Microsoft shops to migrate to Linux for deployments, thus saving on server licences. I work in a polyglot agency, and the RFPs asking for .NET have gone down, even key enterprise products like Sitecore, have moved away from .NET.", "context": "works in a polyglot agency", "use_case": "enterprise development", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Lindy Effect in Software"}, {"id": 781501776, "item_id": 48843861, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48843861", "by": "ultimaweapon", "date": "2026-07-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I tired of keeping upgrade .NET on my projects.", "excerpt": "Not the author but I also moved from C# to Rust. In the first place I did not consider Rust for C# works like REST API but after I proficient with Rust I no longer want to work with C# for the following reasons: 1. Microsoft don't want to open source .NET Core debugger. 2. I tired of keeping upgrade .NET on my projects. 3. Result type in Rust make me more productive than exception in .NET. 4. async/await in Rust is l", "context": "moved from C# to Rust", "use_case": "REST API development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Rewriting Bun in Rust"}, {"id": 777551104, "item_id": 48596944, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596944", "by": "pregnenolone", "date": "2026-06-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "And then, there's .NET's simplistic garbage collector, which can be quite annoying", "excerpt": "Looking into the negative comments is quite amusing. Not only do most of them contain technical inaccuracies, but of course, they also need to mention how great .NET supposedly has been from the beginning and how Java supposedly copied everything. Let's take a stroll down memory lane. First of all, .NET literally started as a Java copy. On top of it, a non-cross-platform one for almost two decades! After having shame", "context": "previously worked in a .NET shop", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Project Valhalla, Explained: How a Decade of Work Arrives in JDK 28"}, {"id": 776601043, "item_id": 48537565, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48537565", "by": "tenderfault", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I like powershell and the dotnet platform", "excerpt": "I switched to Windows 10 as my main development machine few years ago after 25 years of continuously crashing Linux with an enormous pleasure. FreeBSD, well, there's nothing to crash there, that's the problem with it. Nothing. I didn't know almost anything about this Windows OS so I just started playing some sort of whac-a-mole game with it. I don't know what I did but right now I'm a happy (windows 11) user. I use H", "context": "", "use_case": "development platform", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything"}, {"id": 776380784, "item_id": 48523799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48523799", "by": "moron4hire", "date": "2026-06-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the whole system of tooling in .NET has never left me feeling like I was pigeonholed into doing things in stupid, self-flagelating ways", "excerpt": "It's this sort of stuff that leaves me scratching my head why people like Python so much. I hear them say they prefer the syntax and personally I feel like that's such a small part of the holistic experience of working with any particular language. It's one of the reasons why I gave up on C++ years ago for .NET, the whole system of tooling in .NET has never left me feeling like I was pigeonholed into doing things in ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "C++", "story": "Python 3.14 garbage collection rigamarole"}, {"id": 769011376, "item_id": 48063211, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48063211", "by": "codegeek", "date": "2026-05-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I prefer .NET for web development that also compiles to a binary and has a great ecosystem of libraries and packages", "excerpt": "I love Go. But I prefer .NET for web development that also compiles to a binary and has a great ecosystem of libraries and packages. Go is great if standard library works (and it can for many cases) but when you need to start looking into non standard libraries, Go can hit limitations. For example, to build a full production web application with database in Go, there is no great out of the box migration tool. There a", "context": "", "use_case": "web development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Just Fucking Use Go"}, {"id": 759704080, "item_id": 47481505, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481505", "by": "hyperpl", "date": "2026-03-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "did learn about .NET and how slow it was", "excerpt": "I used to code Win32 around the Win 95/98/2000 era (my first VC++ was 1.0 for 16bit) but switched to BSD and Linux around 2000 and haven't looked back. I avoid Windows as much as possible and did learn about .NET and how slow it was but I'm a bit shocked that Win32 is still a thing and still being recommended. Sort of makes me happy and sad at the same time...", "context": "Former Win32 developer, now BSD and Linux user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows native app development is a mess"}, {"id": 743696932, "item_id": 46481058, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46481058", "by": "lkglglgllm", "date": "2026-01-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Dotnet and powershell (pwsh) actually works better in both macos and in Linux, than in windows.", "excerpt": "Heavily invested in Microsoft tech, but not using windows. At all. Couldn\u2019t be happier. Due to word being too buggy, I switched to libre office in windows. Local outlook was also too buggy in windows, I ended up running the web version. Switched to vscode b/c VS was to buggy and slow. Teams works better in macos. Web version of teams is ok in Linux, you don\u2019t want to run the native app in windows, it\u2019s a resource hog", "context": "", "use_case": "development", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop"}, {"id": 742670721, "item_id": 46416920, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46416920", "by": "iliketrains", "date": "2025-12-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Modern .NET is fast", "excerpt": "Author here, thanks for your perspective. Here some thoughts: > approach of separating the simulation and presentation layers isn't all that uncommon I agree that some level of separation is is not that uncommon, but games usually depend on things from their respective engine, especially on things like datatypes (e.g. Vector3) or math libraries. The reason I mention that our game is unique in this way is that its non", "context": "game developer, author of the post", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Unity's Mono problem: Why your C# code runs slower than it should"}, {"id": 739833728, "item_id": 46239608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46239608", "by": "eek2121", "date": "2025-12-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Microsoft's response to this bug alone have turned me off to the language and framework.", "excerpt": "Well, that was a wild read. I'm surprised it isn't getting more traction. So, full disclosure, I'm no longer a developer due to disabilities, including one that keep me from being able to write code, however: I love C# and .NET, and a good portion of my early career was working with C#, .NET, and SOAP. That being said, Microsoft's response to this bug alone have turned me off to the language and framework. They clear", "context": "former developer, no longer codes due to disabilities", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "SOAPwn: Pwning .NET Framework Applications Through HTTP Client Proxies and WSDL"}, {"id": 737006432, "item_id": 46062902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46062902", "by": "kgwxd", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "will never recommend anyone ever touch anything MS has any part in", "excerpt": "I love it. Been using it professionally since the beginning. I owe my entire career to it. This year, I've switched to Go for all projects moving forward, and will never recommend anyone ever touch anything MS has any part in.", "context": "used it professionally for years", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Why aren't more startups using .NET?"}, {"id": 736893872, "item_id": 46055867, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46055867", "by": "littlecranky67", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Modern .NET is awesome.", "excerpt": "Modern .NET is awesome. In a small side hustle project, I develop a REST API Backend in C# on my macOS using VSCode, and deploy it to Linux for the past 3 years without any issues. I use SQLite, EFCore, Minimal APIs and it is a delight compared to the frontend part - which is NextJS/React/MaterialUI with 50+ (dev-)packages in npm.", "context": "side hustle project developer", "use_case": "REST API backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Reinventing how .NET builds and ships (again)"}, {"id": 735797440, "item_id": 45987340, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45987340", "by": "teddyalbina", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Dotnet is an incredible platform ahead of its time. I use it for everything and never get disappointed.", "excerpt": "Dotnet is an incredible platform ahead of its time. I use it for everything and never get disappointed. Also, i'm currently building a startup and everything is dotnet.", "context": "building a startup", "use_case": "startup development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Programming the Commodore 64 with .NET"}, {"id": 734387937, "item_id": 45899246, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45899246", "by": "CharlieDigital", "date": "2025-11-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I think more teams should give C# a shot.", "excerpt": "I'm at a series-C, YC startup. We made a switch from TypeScript to C# two months back. Now we have a team of over a dozen backend engineers working on C# transitioning from TypeScript. 90% are working with C# for the first time. (We are still hiring backend C# engs!) I can say that it has gone waaaaaay smoother than anyone would have thought. This is a decision (language switch) that the team has been putting off for", "context": "series-C YC startup engineer switching from TypeScript to C#", "use_case": "backend development", "switched_from": "", "story": ".NET 10"}, {"id": 734376480, "item_id": 45898530, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45898530", "by": "Arisaka1", "date": "2025-11-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I enjoy working with modern C# way more than node.js", "excerpt": "Every time I read about new .NET version improvements I always remember my attempt to get a job using this stack in my local job market (Greece), where .NET Framework is super prevalent, majorly used by classic companies that don't even give you a fair technical chance if you lack a degree, and the devs are considered to be a cost center. I really, REALLY wish I was in another timeline where I could say in an intervi", "context": "job seeker in Greece", "use_case": "software development", "switched_from": "", "story": ".NET 10"}, {"id": 734370560, "item_id": 45898160, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45898160", "by": "DeathArrow", "date": "2025-11-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love C# and .NET and I use them extensively", "excerpt": ">I wish .NET was more popular among startups, if only C# could get rid of the \"enterpisey\" stigma. I love C# and .NET and I use them extensively but I dislike the fact that the framework still kind of forces you into OOP. If you like to have a more functional workflow you have to roll your own stuff or wrap objects in functional constructs. But .NET is excellent for startups because: -it is very fast to develop in -h", "context": "extensive .NET user", "use_case": "startup development", "switched_from": "", "story": ".NET 10"}, {"id": 734356993, "item_id": 45897312, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45897312", "by": "mrcsharp", "date": "2025-11-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This has gotten so much better with .NET 10 and since the introduction of source generators", "excerpt": "C# has AOT compilation which creates a single, native binary. This has gotten so much better with .NET 10 and since the introduction of source generators to deal with reflection issues. Also, check out nanoFramework for a .NET runtime that can run on MCUs like the ESP32 [1] [1] https://github.com/nanoframework/Home", "context": "", "use_case": "AOT native binaries", "switched_from": "", "story": ".NET MAUI is coming to Linux and the browser"}, {"id": 732824897, "item_id": 45801556, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45801556", "by": "davedx", "date": "2025-11-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "(And the C# .NET ones).", "excerpt": "Same experience working on FastAPI projects. I don\u2019t know how big production apps are maintained (and supported operationally) with the mess that is python+async+types. Conversely all the node+typescript projects, big and small, have been pretty great the last 10+ years or so. (And the C# .NET ones). I use python for real data projects, for APIs there are about half a dozen other tech stacks I\u2019d reach for first. I\u2019ll", "context": "", "use_case": "production apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why we migrated from Python to Node.js"}]}