.NET Standard Library vs. .NET Standard

Question

Reading some blogs and the official documentation for .NET Core 1.0, I'm still quite confused (like many others).
Don't get me wrong, I've literally read dozens of posts on the web trying to understand the architecture and terms for this new platform.

Reading the docs and blogs, this is what they say about .NET Standard Library:

The .NET Standard Library is a formal specification of .NET APIs that are intended to be available on all .NET runtimes.

But they also use this term: .NET Standard and netstandard as you can see on the Platform Support table.

Question: .NET Standard Library == .NET Standard? If not, what's difference?

Same thing. ".NET Standard" is how you say it, "netstandard" is how you write it in your project file. Just wait long enough until the tooling (like VS) catches up and a lot of this terminology misery and irrelevant history will stop hurting. — Hans Passant
– Hans Passant, Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 16:48
@HansPassant based on your profile and rep, I believe that's an answer, so you can write it down and I'll accept that as an answer. — QuantumHive
– QuantumHive, Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 16:56
I post these comments to help somebody else to write an accurate answer. Like you. But @Nate already did, looks fine to me, consider accepting that answer. — Hans Passant
– Hans Passant, Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 18:44

Nate Barbettini · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-06 18:02:21Z

9

.NET Standard Library is the official name going forward. netstandard is the moniker used in project files and means the same thing. The package is called NETStandard.Library on NuGet.

During the development of DNX and ultimately .NET Core, the names and monikers changed a number of times as the team iterated on the design. Now that .NET Core has reached 1.0, it shouldn't change any more.

edited Jul 6, 2016 at 18:02

answered Jul 6, 2016 at 16:55

Nate Barbettini

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3 Comments

QuantumHive Over a year ago

So basically, if someone mentions .NET Standard, that person actually means: .NET Standard Library? So those two terms are the same concerning terminology? When the Library postfix is omitted, that's just laziness?

Nate Barbettini Over a year ago

@QuantumHive I think so, it's probably shorthand. Although they might be referring to the netstandard moniker used in project.json too. They all mean the same thing.

Michael Ray Lovett Over a year ago

Actually it should have been called "Net Standard Library Specification" because it is not a library, just a specification. As far as I can see, it's not possible to actually download a binary named "net standard library"..

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