What is new microsoft .net 7: Top new Features of .Net 7

The new version of .NET - .NET 7 - has a wide range of changes that have been anticipated for a while by users. Let’s break down the previews, first impressions, and features comprehensively to see what changes have been implemented this time around.

New APIs for Tar Archives

The .NET 7 framework now supports tar archives via newly released API - namely the new assembly System.Formats.Tar. Using this cross-platform API, one can easily read, write, archive, and extract tar archives. One can address archives via filenames and streams using the numerous overloads in methods such as TarFile.CreateFromDirectory and Tar-File.ExtractToDirectory. These APIs can also be used to open archives, look through their contents, read contents one by one and even to write them. As seen in the System.IO.Compression.GZipStream namespace, it is possible to now combine stream-based compression algorithms. This can be used to process compressed archives such as .tar.gz — again with the previously mentioned options such as reading and writing entries of an archive file individually.

LINQ Brings Order

System.Linq also got improved adjustments. Based on the type T, new methods like Order and OrderDescending can sort an IEnumerable. These interfaces are also now supported by IQueryable. Hence, these new features simplifies your overall code when it comes to sorting operations.

Micro & Nanoseconds for DateTime

The DateTime, DateTimeOffset, TimeSpan, and Time-Only classes can now be used with microseconds and nanoseconds. The constructors have been revised, and new properties were added.

Pooling By Default for Threads

System.Threading has also been updated with new features. By default, Windows now uses the managed thread pool implementation. This can lead to more efficiency as it enables the distribution of IO requests in batches to fewer threads

New Data Types

New data types have been introduced in the latest version. The data type DateOnly can represent dates that range from January 1, 0001 CE through December 31, 9999 CE. The data type TimeOnly can be used to signify a time in the day (as seen on a clock) within a range from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59.9999999. The Half data type signifies a half-precision floating-point number. Int128 and UInt128 are the other new data types that have been included.

New Type Converters

New primitive types - that can be converted using the latest type converters - were also introduced in .NET 7. Besides the new APIs added to System.Text.Json, JsonWriterOptions.MaxDepth has also been added recently. To access the default JsonSerializerOptions, JsonSerializerOptions.Default can be used, while polymorphism is supported by System.Text.Json in case one wants to serialize or deserialize type hierarchies.

New Functionality for Streams

New methods have been added to System.IO.Stream, namely ReadExact and ReadAtLeast. Previously, one when opted to use Stream.Read, the method often led to errors as it returned less data than that passed through the buffer and less than what was actually present in the stream. Predictably, writing same loops each time data was to be read from a stream was proving to be very cumbersome. In contrast, these newly added methods make this situation a whole lot easier. ReadExactly can be used to get the exact number of requested bytes. If in case a stream ends before requested bytes have been read, an End-OfStreamException is thrown.

Cryptographic Functions Are Less Error Prone

Changes in the cryptographic functions lead to fewer errors. This is highly noticeable in the event of parsing X.500 names as they are generated. Classically an X.500 name can be used to create test certificates using string manipulations. This works for a simple literal or with string formatting especially if names do not contain a comma, quote, or other character that can cause issues when parsing is done. In .NET 7, there is now the X500DistinguishedNameBuilder class to pass the respective data via methods.

New Regex Code Generator and API Improvements

The all-new Regex Source Generator brings with it greater benefits in terms of performance and debugging without having to start the specialized engine. The new generator plays out these advantages whenever the regex pattern is known at compile time. These innovations can be used if the regex expression is stored as a partial type and has the RegexGenerator attribute. The following example shows how you can access the pattern or results using the partial method provided with the attribute. Methods are annotated with RegexGenerator attributes, so they are declared as partial. When a pattern is altered or other regex options are passed, the implementation of the partial method is already automatically updated by the generator. Even without generation at runtime, the compiled regex engine will be tuned to the pattern. This results in all steps being performed at compile time.

Support For Span Data Type

Important APIs now include Regex.IsMatch(ReadOnlySpan input) and Regex.Count(ReadOnlySpan input), to name two examples. Regex performance has also been improved drastically. Now one can improve performance in logic that is used to find certain matches. The engine can also be made to run faster by using the span data type in certain internal types in order to avoid assignments.

Addition of Nullable Annotations

The new version of .NET will have complete full annotations for all types and assemblies in the Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration namespace.

Command Line Cmdlets

The Command Line Interface (CLI) for .NET 7 was changed in a few ways. The new command allows for an easier use of subcommands with a more intuitive, consistent interface. One can now press the tab button to autocomplete commends. Auto-completion for template options and arguments is also enabled now.

Further Innovations in the .NET ecosystem

As seen before, the .NET ecosystem is often altered as and when .NET versions undergo changes. Various products are being significantly updated to version 7 in order to align with .NET 7. This new version also includes updates for MAUI, Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), NuGet, and Roslyn.

Final Thoughts

There is little doubt that the Microsoft .NET universe has been rising over the years, bringing new features with every new update. .NET 7 has the same foundation as its predecessor, and similarly strives to deliver a simplified development experience, better productivity & unification across libraries & platforms.