The exact reasons for choosing .NET 7 for cross-platform mobile app development
Microsoft has released .NET 7 with numerous improvements in most factors as described below to help businesses build a secure, fast, scalable and reliable mobile application.
Core engine optimization for higher performance
With .NET 7, you can increase the speed of mobile applications insanely since performance was a priority during development. It comes with On-Stack Replacement (OSR), Profile Guided Optimization (PGO) and native AOT, which plays and leverages a key role in optimizing speed across platforms:
Changing the block of code during the execution of the current method. Because of this, applications don’t spend extra time switching between methods and reduce the time it takes to process user requests. .NET 7 allows PGO and OSR to be shared, which seamlessly handles delegates and improves the code structure for Arm64.
Also, it reduces the launch time of Android and Blazor applications on all compatible platforms by eliminating just-in-time execution.
Improved APIs for better communication
By integrating APIs from the updated .NET 7 library, you can add advanced functionality to the mobile application, which was not possible with .NET 6 or lower. And all APIs come with relevant patches, making them cross-platform compatible to never compromise on data security and app speed.
Key API improvements include:
Nanosecond and microsecond time formats are supported. APIs that get used to reading, writing and reaching are adapted to the latest security standards. ReadExactly and Stream.ReadAtLeast APIs are activated to read aggregate data. Event counters can track the statistics of multiple memory caches and help define reliable discrete operation. Extreme observability for seamless update
By using .NET 7, you get an improved observability feature that helps analyze the current app state while scaling it in real-time. It helps to understand the increasing complexities leading to solving them before the updates reach the end users. In addition, it uses OpenTelemetry technology, which offers the following advantages:
Collect data from multiple sources and send to all applications running on different platforms. Helps analyze telemetry data from mobile apps hosted on local or cloud servers without any additional effort. It allows activating different filters during data collection to collect only relevant information and save time. Added features to the SDK for faster development
Software Development Kit (SDK) is a primary tool used in mobile app development. To write overall code, developers need an SDK and to reduce the complexity within it, the .NET 7 SDK has received some extremely subtle improvements, including:
Tab completion is now available in the SDK, resulting in a reduction in code generation time. New code templates for mobile apps are available, which you can edit, compile and integrate into the application in a very short time. The “—” prefix is removed for install, uninstall, update, search, and list commands.
All of these upgrades in the SDK help developers write code faster and reduce bugs in the end product. So, using .NET 7, you can create a secure mobile app for your customers and ensure their data integrity in no time.
Platform Invoke Source Generator for faster startup times
The new P/Invoke source generator in .NET 7 allows the mobile application to take advantage of AOT (Ahead-Of-Time) compilation. It speeds up the apps to launch quickly on any platform and uses very less memory compared to other software development technologies. In addition, it allows apps to run their operations on any compatible computer, regardless of the .NET runtime environment installed on it.
As a result, .NET 7 based mobile apps help to reach the target audience easily. Furthermore, it also helps maintain quality of service as numerous instances can be processed simultaneously in a cloud and constrained infrastructures.
Simple containerization for more efficiency
Currently, all organizations and development professionals prefer to use container technology to seamlessly run the application to a wider audience. And to support this, Microsoft introduced support for container images in .NET 7. It allows generating the app output as a container image to reduce deployment effort and time.
It helps to achieve numerous benefits such as:
It allows the application to be ported to the different host machines without affecting its consistency. It puts less load on the server, which increases efficiency, consumes fewer resources, and executes more requests in a short amount of time. It helps in instant distribution of updates and new app versions without affecting the current application. It helps in differentiating the application for all user groups by allowing different containers to be configured. If a single container fails, only the associated user group is affected. Centralized mechanism for effortless dependency management
By using .NET 7’s centralized package management, developers can manage all app dependencies from a single place. It helps save time and organize dependencies in a reliable and easy-to-find mechanism.
Once you develop your mobile app with it, all processes and operations will be streamlined and users will get accurate results. In addition, it helps to smoothly distribute the security patch, bug fixes, and new updates across all platforms. And it also helps maintain app security by minimizing the possibility of code being exposed to malicious actors or anyone else you restrict.
